Give ‘Em an Inch, They’ll Take the Fox Fur

After our Cocker Spaniel, Brandy, died, my parents bought my sister a Miniature Schnauzer, Pepper.  Pepper was a very clever, loving girl who, in retrospect, suffered from a lack of proper training.  For instance, she was a garbage hound, knocking over the cans of the neighbors, leaving a messy trail behind her.  As we lived in a world of no fences or leashes, it was a habit unappreciated but accepted and lived with by all affected humans, much like my pet rabbit getting into the neighbor’s garden.  (Curiously, Trigger never touched our own garden.  Smart bunny.)

The one law my mother laid down was that the dog was not allowed in the main part of the house.  The casual entrance to our home was through the den, a room that had served as a woodshed for the farmer who owned the house before us, a room that connected the garage to the main house.  From the den you entered into our kitchen, through a door that was left open more often than not, a wooden threshold marked the divide.  Pepper would plant herself on the threshold and watch us at the kitchen table, throughout many meals and games of canasta.

We wanted to breed Pepper, we attempted to breed Pepper, she was having nothing to do with it.  Owners of the studs would call us, asking us to please come get her as she made such a racket, barking and snarling, what attempts we made all failed. 

One day our yard was filled with hopeful candidates.  Pepper’s odor had filled the neighborhood and all the dogs had come calling.  Pepper got out of the house and mated with a Poodle named Frenchy, eventually giving birth to five very cute puppies.  My other sister got to keep one, a motley-colored mutt whom she named Treacle.  Pepper and Treacle were inseparable, looking like bookends as they sat side by side at the kitchen threshold.

We noticed while having our meals that Pepper and Treacle were having very subtle, slow-moving races, inching forward on their bums while in a sitting position, seeing who could get closer to the kitchen table before being caught and sent back to the threshold.  It was amusing but we could not laugh or show any pleasure in their movements as that would reward the dogs for their behavior.  Instead just a stern “Out!” to send them back.  For the most part, the dogs were obliging and even though that kitchen door stood open, in the den they would stay.

Past the kitchen was the living room.  This was the formal room of the house with wall to wall carpeting and a large picture window looking out over the fields behind our home.  My father had shot a fox in those fields, a fox that had been terrorizing all the local hen houses, a fox whose beautiful red coat now lay tanned and spread on the floor in front of the living room fireplace. 

One evening the family returned home from choir practice.  Walking into the den was to find the two dogs, quiet, sleeping, glad to have us home.  Walking into the kitchen was to enter command central and everything was as it should be.  Walking into the living room was to find mayhem and destruction.

I would give my eye teeth to know the back story, which dog it was who took it upon herself to encourage an unauthorized touring of the house while we were gone, which one it was who discovered the fox fur.  I would love to have witnessed the ensuing result, a complete and total shredding of that fox fur.  There wasn’t an inch of carpeting that didn’t have fox fur on it, you’d be hard pressed to find a square inch of the fur itself, the dogs had completely and totally torn it apart.  They must have had so much fun.

We were unable to contain ourselves.  We laughed a shrieking laughter, tears rolling down our faces with the imagined picture of what had taken place.  But the damage was done and our lesson was learned.  After that, anytime we left home, the door to the den was closed and the dogs were shut in.

Containing your dog is the simplest way to avoid problems when you’re not at home to supervise.  Whether given his own room, a kennel or baby’s playpen, use something that will contain the dog and keep him from getting into things he shouldn’t while you’re away.