Sunday, February 3, 2013

Puppy Drama

I don’t know about you all, but winter sure does put me in a grumpy mood.  The gray skies and frigid air immediately sets my bones to aching, as if I were an old woman.  So you can imagine my delight when the temperatures randomly hit nearly 70 degrees last Tuesday.  I could not wait to get home and walk my one-year-old puppy, Piper.

However, when I arrived, I found this:
You see, Piper has had a difficult time with the move.  She seems frightened of every little noise and the slew of plumbers who entered my home during the pipe incident did not help with her paranoia.  Piper has always hated the kennel, so I thought I would try leaving her out in the house to make her more comfortable.  After all, she has calmed down and is starting to become an adult dog.  I did a test-run first, leaving her out of her kennel for only a few hours at a time while I ran errands on the weekends.  The trial was a success, so I continued to leave her out all day while I was at work.  She did a pretty good job, only pulling a couple throw pillows into the floor here and there.  No harm done, right?  But then one day she happened to get a hold of a pen, shredding it into a million little pieces, and got ink all over one side of a sofa cushion.  Even then I didn’t get upset, and just flipped the cushion over. 
But on this beautiful Tuesday, I immediately knew something was up when I walked in from the garage.  Rather than stand up on her hind legs to greet me, Piper crouched low to the floor.  Oh, crap was my immediate thought.
I moved into the living room to find all the cushions of the sofa disheveled with stuffing EVERYWHERE.  I mean, all over the sofa, the floor, the coffee table.  Then I saw the massive hole in the cushion on the floor, the same cushion that had ink all over the other side.
I immediately called my mother in a panic.
“I just can’t catch a break!  What am I going to do?” I desperately asked.
“Get some OxiClean and I’ll be right over.”
We spent over an hour soaking the cushion cover in the OxiClean solution, but only a little ink was coming out at a time. 
“It’s not working,” I pouted.  “Let’s just give up.”  It was getting late and we both had to work the next morning.
“Let me take it home with me, Holly.  Don’t worry, I’ll get it out.”
And that she did.  After soaking the cover in the solution for another hour or so, nearly all of the ink came out of the fabric—an absolute miracle.
The lesson learned here?  First, don’t let those sad puppy eyes fool you.  While I still feel guilty about putting Piper in her kennel, I know that it is best for her safety and the safety of my home.  When the weather looks up, I plan on building her a dog house so she can roam around the backyard while I am at work.  In the end, we both win.  Second, buy some OxiClean immediately.  This stuff really is a miracle in powder form.  Third, don’t be afraid to call your parents for help.  I have found that being an adult means you need (and appreciate) the help of your family more than ever.
 
 

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