The Dog Ate My Lunchbox...

My dog, that I love dearly, can be...well....let's just say a pain in my butt at times. He has separation anxiety as many labs do. He has always had some degree of this problem, but it got a zillion times worse when his best friend (our other dog) passed away a couple of years ago, and then we moved to a different house. We have had to learn to follow a specific routine when we decide to leave him home alone even just for a few minutes. We have to raise the blinds, because otherwise he will tear them up while trying to see out the window - looking for us I assume. We have to put away any random objects like toys, remotes and other misc, because we never know what he will decide to destroy while in his frantic rampage. We also have to close off all the bedroom and bathroom doors as he has been known to hop in and out of the bathtubs and destroy boxes of kleenex and shampoo bottles. Not sure what happens there?! He has progressively gotten better, and now tends to mostly wait by the door for us until we get home, but we still follow the routine of putting everything away just in case. Why not crate/kennel him you might ask? Yeah, well...we used to do that, and it worked well for a little while until one day he got in a frenzy and literally chewed his way out of a metal kennel. We came home to find a bedroom that looked like a tornado went through it, a broken kennel, and a dog with a broken fang. As a result, we got the pleasure of paying a significant surgical bill to have the rest of the tooth removed, and we now often refer to him as our 3-fanged dog, big, black dog. So, needless to say...no more kennels.

This past week, he was left alone while we went out to eat, and when we came home, he was happily chewing away at a small cardboard box?? Turns out someone (okay - I admit it was me) had eaten a frozen meal and left the empty container next to the sink - forgetting to toss it in the trash (which incidentally we also have to keep locked away in a cabinet, so he won't stick his happy, little nose in there on a regular basis). Fast forward to the next evening when we once again left him alone to run some errands. We came home to find he had pulled the little one's lunchbox off the kitchen counter (even though it was empty) and proceeded to lick it and chew on it a bit. Apparently, it stilled smelled like lunch. *Sigh* She was none to pleased with him! So, now we have to add to our routine - make sure there is nothing edible, or that smells edible, on the kitchen counters. Crazy dog!

Meanwhile, I did not have time to go buy the little one a new lunchbox before school the next day, so she took her lunch in a little purse/tote bag. I told her, on the bright side, she at least had an interesting story to tell at the lunch table - the dog ate my homework  lunchbox...