Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Show Off

When we first got Riley, he had a habit of wrecking some of our things.  Nothing huge - no furniture or expensive dress pants or anything.  If you're read this blog long enough, you might remember incidents like the blinds and his delight in tearing apart all manner of assorted paper and fluff.  That was typical for our little guy at first.

Mercifully, he has gradually stopped doing such things.  That is, at our place.  We even started letting him roam free when we leave (as opposed to locking him up in his crate.)  With the exception of a pair of wooden dice from a board game, he has left our stuff alone for the past few months.  We feel like proud parents.  Our boy is growing up. 

However, he always seems to regress when he stays with my parents.  He has chewed through two of my dad's bluetooths (blueteeth?) in addition to ripping through several pillows and assorted socks.  One time my mom even caught him dragging a king size pillow sham down the hall to chew on.  Think small dog with extra large pillow.  It was literally bigger than he was and he had to drag it inch by inch because it was too heavy for him.  And then he did develop a taste once for certain wicker furniture my parents have in their porch.  Nothing like Marley, but naughty nonetheless. 

We kept thinking, What the heck?  What makes our parents' place so different from ours?

And then this past weekend they came for a visit, and took along their dog, Chloe. And what do I find in the living room yesterday morning?

Yes, it is a cozy sock I got for Christmas and wore all of one time. He not only went into our bedroom to retrieve it, but carried it downstairs so that everyone would see his handiwork.

Punk.

Apparently it is all for Chloe's benefit. As in, neener neener neener - I get away with murder. (Think high pitched sing-song voice.)

Perhaps it is because she acts like she is annoyed with him most of the time. And all the while he follows her around like, well, a little puppy. An unhealthy, dependent relationship if you ask me. Or perhaps it is because she doesn't like him to be anywhere near her food. And then she doesn't eat it just to spite him.

Or maybe he just likes to feel like a bad ass.

2 comments:

Natasha Witte said...

This is hilarious - Riley IS a stinker around Chloe! They have such strong and interesting personalities - I love it.

Jenni S. said...

OK, so having just read the book and seen the movie, I did have Marley on the brain when I was reading your post. Sorry about the socks!