Dad had some minor surgery last week. Nothing serious, just foot surgery but to those of you that know my dad, anything that would keep him off his feet is not good. My dad likes to move, likes to keep going so keeping him off his feet was not going to be easy. He takes his dogs for walks several times a day, whether they want to go or not. During his surgery, Lela and I thought it would be best if I brought their dogs, Fritz and Freddie, back here for a visit. Jake would be ecstatic. He loves playing with Fritz. And Freddie....well, Freddie would enjoy sitting on the couch with me. We got Dad back home and in bed after the surgery and "the boys" were jumping all over him. That made the decision even easier. I packed the dogs up: crate, bag of food, bag of their favorite toys, some rawhides, dog bed, leashes. Check. Abigail and I grabbed the boys and drove home. Interestingly, the second we turned into our neighborhood, Freddie went nuts. He was barking, growling, and clawing at the window. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
Everything went great. They played until they were tired, took a little nap, then played some more. Fritz likes to get in the pool so we got a float and put him in it. He would stand with his front paws on the inflated pillow and honestly, I thought I could hear him say "I'm king of the world!" While Fritz was floating, Jake was running around barking at him and anytime Fritz would get close to the edge of the pool, Jake was there trying to paw him out of the float. In the meantime, Freddie was hiding under one of the patio chairs.
In my house, dog proofing is pretty much the same as preparing for a hurricane. Everything is off the floor at least 5 feet. But I still don't trust Jake or Fritz, mostly Jake, to be out unobserved and not chew up everything in sight. So, anytime we go anywhere, we put them in the bathroom. To make their time in the bathroom more comfortable, we put in 2 dog beds, numerous toys, a few Milkbones, and a bowl of water. I also always lock the closet doors with a childproof latch to keep them out of there and, more importantly, away from all shoes. The first time we left them in the bathroom, this is what we came home to:
Jeff said it looked like a frat party had taken place in here. Neither of the beds were in the same place I originally put them. Not sure how they pulled the rug back. The white paper on the floor is the label that was on the back of the rug. But the doors to the closet. That's what really got me. Here's a close up of the door knobs:
The latch was still attached but it pulled one of the doorknobs off. Don't know how they did it, but they did. Amazingly, they didn't destroy anything in the closet, including my cute little bunny slippers that were on the floor in there. Why is it I can't walk across the room with those slippers on without Jake trying to play tug-o-war with the little bunny ears but they were sitting in plain sight and not one of the dogs bothered them?
Anyway, I got the doorknob on and fastened tightly (it involved using a bobby pin) but that doorknob wasn't going anywhere. So I locked it again, checked it twice and it wasn't budging. When we got home, the closet doors were open. The doorknob was still on. The weird thing is that the latch was gone. Totally gone. I looked all over the bathroom, in the dog beds, everywhere. Nothing. I looked in the closet. Nope. Granted, our closet is a mess. We have 3 clothes baskets in there. Maybe they buried it somewhere in the closet. I even thought maybe they ate it but I'm sure there would have been little plastic crumbs on the floor.
Fortunately, I buy the economy packs of these things since Jake has broken several of them off (but never with the doorknobs attached). So the next time we left, I put 2 latches on the doorknobs and Fritz's kennel in front of the doors, hoping to block the doors completely. When we got home, the doors were still locked. But the kennel was across the floor, the blankets and pillows were out of the beds and the rug was pulled back again. Next time, I think I'll take my chances and just leave them out.
And I'm still looking for the missing latch.
Here's Abigail with Freddie (left) and Fritz.
