Okay, my last post was about the importance of exercising your dog regularly. Well today Copper and Cody provided The Lovely Shane and me a reminder of why this is so important.
Last night The Lovely Shane and I attended a concert at Harps Crossing Baptist Church. By the way, The Akins Family was performing. If you have not had the opportunity to see them I would highly recommend that you go the next time they are in town. It is really good Gospel music, a refreshing change from some of the modern contemporary stuff (at least in my opinion).
Well, getting back to the story, when we got home from the concert, Copper, Cody and I went for a long night time walk. We had great fun and were all tired when we got back to the shack.
Copper and Cody slept very well all night, as usual. They were both more tired this morning than is usual for them. Neither of them are morning Beagles but this morning they appeared especially lazy. I fed them breakfast and after The Lovely Shane left for work, I went out to do an estimate for a Lawn Maintenance job and to take care of some business in Fayetteville. I did not take the Beagles for a walk first because they seemed so tired. That proved to be a critical error.
By the way, speaking of Lawn Maintenance, I also run a Lawn Maintenance and Handyman Business. If you are ever in need of Lawn work or household repairs, please contact me (fayettelawnmoore@gmail.com). I service Fayette County and most of the adjoining counties in this south Atlanta Suburb.
Okay, so I was only gone for two hours. When I returned I found the destruction that you see in the pictures. Actually this is just some of the destruction. The bi-fold door in the kitchen pantry was knocked off the track. The kitchen trash was scattered all over the kitchen, living room and even part of the Dog Trainer Shack Office.
The Lovely Shane had been doing school work at her notebook computer in the office. She left a coffee cup there. Copper found the coffee cup. Copper loves coffee. He broke the cup. We later learned that he spilled coffee on the keyboard of the computer.
As you can see in the picture, the Beagles looked as surprised as me to find this mess :) .
So... lets list the mistakes that the Lovely Shane and I made here:
- I should have walked the Beagles before I left the house.
- We should have secured the pantry door better or removed the trash. (This is Beagle proofing 101 :) )
- We should not leave drinks (especially Coppers favorites) within Beagle reach.
- I should have probably taken Copper and Cody with me. I could have done that and normally would have taken at least one of them. But today, they really looked tired.
- Tired looks can be deceptive :)
Copper and Cody would likely not have caused all this destruction that took me hours to clean up if they had been properly exercised this morning. I am not suggesting that exercise is a miracle cure for behavioral issues however, in this case, I think our little angels were bored. They were not hungry because I just fed them before I left the house.
Remember Copper Whooper and Cody the Little Beagle are both seniors. In fact Cody could probably be considered geriatric. Cody has an bad hind leg from an old injury that never healed properly. If they can cause this sort of destruction in only a couple of hours, you can imagine the damage that can be accomplished by a younger, healthy Beagle.
You may be thinking to yourself, why did this Dog Trainer not follow his own advice and crate these dogs when he was away. Well, that is a very good question. The answer is that not all dogs are suited for crates. Copper has severe separation anxiety. He bent the bars on a crate shortly after I adopted him. He will injure himself if I crate him. Normally, he does fine with free run of the house. Cody is normally also very good outside the crate. I do not crate him mostly because of his leg injury and because normally it is not necessary.
Our foster dog Lovey is crated when are away as was our previous foster girl, Penny the tiny Beagle. I do believe in crating however, like so many things in Dog Training, it is not suited for every dog. Not all training is cookie-cutter because all dogs are not the same.
So, again, remember exercise your little guy and girls and take them with you!
Till next time
-William-
William Moore
William Moore Canine Training
678-702-4791
fayettedogtrainer@gmail.com
William Moore Lawn and Handyman Services
678-702-4791
fayettelawnmoore@gmail.com
