My first dogs, part II

Tasha (left) and Hannah (right) not long after I got them, 2005

Do these look like the faces of trouble makers?

Yeah. Looks are deceiving. Those little devils quickly scratched and chewed up what wood they could in my back entry way (where they are photographed here). They were not yet kennel trained when I got them, so I had to teach them to sleep in the kennels quietly.

I put the crates in the garage, then I put blankets in them. I read a book to the pups while they were in the crates to calm them. Then I left them in there alone for longer and longer stretches of time. Meanwhile, I let them run free in the garage until they were comfortable with being kenneled for long stretches.

What a mistake.

The garage was insulated and had an exposed 3 foot wide section of insulation on the far wall where there used to be an outside door. The dogs decided this served as excellent entertainment, and before long they buried the cement floor in layers of torn fluff (mixed with their urine and excrement, of course).

The puppies gauged strips into the walls along the only window trying to look outside. They tried to scratch their way out by the door, resulting in a big hole. To their delight, they pulled even more insulation from this newly formed hole to spread around.

I left the crate doors open so they could walk in and out while familiarizing themselves with their new "area." Of course, I left the blankets in there so that they wouldn't have to lay on the hard bottom of the crates. Those blankets didn't last very long, suffering the same fate as the insulation had before them.

I accidentally forgot the book I had been reading to them on one of the crates, and it was demolished the next time I saw the girls.

I learned (the hard way) that I couldn't turn both dogs loose to exercise at the same time. One always had to be on a lead or tied up, or they would take off down the road, ignoring my frantic calls for them to come back.

One day (fortunately on a weekend) not long after I brought my little demons home, they discovered that the door into the garage no longer latched completely. Oh joy!! Off they went, darting down the rocky road while I remained ignorantly blissful inside the house.

The wild ones had not been gone long when I discovered their absence. Heart in my throat, I jogged down the road toward the corner carrying their leashes with me. Then I spotted them rounding the corner from the other direction, merrily trotting along while the man who lives in the house down there followed them in his truck. Oh dear, what kind of trouble had they caused, and could I deny that those hellions were mine?

The puppies led the man in the truck straight back to me, wagging their tails and displaying great delight in their latest antics. He gave me a long look and wordlessly drove off as soon as they were back at my house. I've never talked to that guy since, and I don't even know if he still lives in that house anymore. I figured out how to work the latch on the garage door so that it would remain in place in spite of the dogs's best efforts.

Tasha and Hannah were eventually comfortable in the crates so I could keep them there when needed. They never settled down enough to ever be allowed free at the same time in an unfenced area, though. Hannah could scale fences, although Tasha never learned this wonderful talent! Fortunately, neither went very far without the other.

More on those two crazies later.