It's no secret. I'm in love with the Napa Valley. In fact, I'm sure many of you are sick and tired of us talking about how great it is, how I can't imagine a better way to spend a birthday than with a quick trip there, that the food and wine are beyond belief, and the scenery is breathtaking. We've gone so far as to write up a three-part itinerary for anyone thinking of visiting, and I've made it a personal destination for seven years running. 

Although it's hard for me to believe there's anyone out there that wouldn't love it too, in the last week one of our crew members here at Old Town Home has made it known she wasn't happy we made a quick departure for the west coast. Do you have any guesses who that might be? Here's a hint.

Yep, that's right. This innocent face has been in a little bit of a snit since we've been back. 

Ordinarily Lulu is a dream. Our 30 pound rescue pup is sweet, loving, and mostly a couch potato. (Well, a couch potato after her first five minutes of sheer jumping mania when she says hello.) There's only been one other period in our time with her that she went on a pillow throwing, crate and Easter basket-eating tirade, but we thought we were past that. I guess we were wrong. 

Since we've been back from California, our Ori Pei has been on a tear. Literally. If you're a pillow in this house, you're not safe. And rather than merely throw them on the floor, like she did in her tirade period that I referenced, this time she's making it rain snow.

Last weekend, after a quick trip to Target, Alex and I came home to the following site. 

What looked like a freak May snowstorm in our sun porch, was actually the stuffing of a really old, and pretty ugly pillow leftover from my college days. Luckily I don't care about the pillow, but it's the look on her face that really makes me concerned. This big grin is one that says, "revenge is best served cold and while you're out of the house." I'm pretty sure that if she could extend a middle finger, she'd be waving it at the camera. 

The sun porch drama happened again the following day, this time to a much lesser extent. In this case, yet another ugly pillow left from Alex's college days suffered a bit of a flesh wound. 

I suppose she felt we weren't rattled or warned enough following the sun porch incidents. So in order to really drive her point home that it's not cool to up and leave her for wine country (or anywhere for that matter), Lulu moved her plan of attack upstairs, this time to our bedroom. 

On two separate days, Lulu went after the pillows on our bed. She was careful in her strategy to remove the decorative pillows and Euro shams, and go straight for our sleeping pillows. What we were left with looked like a (very tame) scene out of a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. 

Freddy Kruger's Lulu's work was pretty impressive. She managed to successfully shred two pillow cases without damaging the feather pillows themselves. Despite the fact that these pillow cases were wedding gifts, they are now going on ten years old and were in need of replacement anyway. Don't tell Lulu, but we thought her antics were a little funny, given she destroyed only things in our home that needed to be retired anyway. Wait a second? Maybe she wants in on the decorating action, and is trying to tell us something? Something like "Hey guys, I know you've had these pillows and pillow cases for a while, but don't you think it's time for a bit of a scenery change?"

We haven't broken the news to her yet, but a few ripped up pillows aren't going to be enough to keep me from visiting my happy place. We'll just have to figure out a way to get those long legs of hers tucked inside a carry on bag for our next trip. :-)

Do your pets act out when you go on a trip? Or maybe like Lulu, they prefer to wait to show their displeasure until you've returned? What's the most destructive pet attack that's happened in your home? Hopefully like us, only unimportant items have been affected. 


Comments 16

Comments

Nicole Hayes
5/16/2012 at 11:10 AM
Remember when Charlie ate the blackberry!? Yup, that little guy was pissed Ii often needed to work rather than play with him.
5/16/2012 at 11:14 AM
Tassy has the occasional chew/shred fest...although it has typically involved Mike's hats and tv remotes.

She was crated religiously whenever we were out up until last week...and so far, so good! I've been really good about putting her typical chewables away, though.

I think Lulu just wants in on the decorating action.
Wendy
5/16/2012
I just wish she had gone for the sun porch. It might have solved some of my decorating angst in that room if she had torn down the blinds or soiled the rug beyond cleaning. ;-)
Kelly
5/16/2012 at 11:23 AM
Oh you can't stay mad at that sweet face for too long!

Her coat is gorgeous. Mind sharing what brand of food you feed her?

My year old french bulldog is...a nightmare. He will eat and chew anything. After months of crating, we did a trial run of letting him free (no upstairs) and he chewed a magazine, a remote, a deck of cards, my flip flops. And managed climb on top of the couch and squeeze himself through the bars on our railing and went upstairs even with the puppy gate up. I almost had a heart attack...He's even tried eating the charging cable to my husband's laptop plugged in AT THE WALL.

He did not pass and was subsequently crated for a few more months.

Fortunately, now he's able to roam free in the kitchen while we're gone or at work, but only that room. I feel much better because we don't have to crate him anymore, which he hated, but he's still safe from the stairs (which I"m so afraid he will fall down, he is similar is size to Oliver with stumpy legs too and already broke his leg once as a puppy on our porch stairs). Also we have a security system and I'm paranoid so I put on the motion sensors all the time. He might set them off jumping on the couch so the kitchen works for us.

Maybe try restricting Lulu to just downstairs or a room without pillows? If you take away her temptation, she might stop destroying stuff...maybe :)
Wendy
5/16/2012
No, we can't stay mad at her gorgeous smooshy face for more than five minutes. She's on a special allergy restriction diet right now and eats California Naturals sweet potato and herring food, as well as a ton of fresh fruits and vegetables. Her treats are typically carrot sticks, homemade sweet potato treats, and other veggies. She gets compliments on her coat all the time. It's really shiny in person too.

I absolutely LOVE frenchies. They're like little round bowling balls and are too cute for words. :-) Your stories made me laugh out loud!

We tried restricting Lulu to a confined space (the kitchen and sun porch) but she ate the wicker love seat and scratched up the walls and door trying to get into the rest of the house. <sigh>
Nikki
5/16/2012 at 12:56 PM
My schnauzer liked furniture legs and the corners of wood trim as a puppy...consider yourself lucky! She has thankfully grown out of that phase but not without ruining several substantial pieces!
Wendy
5/16/2012
That sounds just like Oliver! He chewed up baseboard molding at our neighbor's house when she was watching him. At least she was understanding...and we knew how to fix it! :-)
Old Town Home
5/16/2012 at 1:54 PM
Yes Nicole Hayes - I totally remember when Charlie ate your Blackberry. Didn't he cause the battery acid to leak out all over your sofa? Bad puppy! :-)
threadbndr (Karla)
5/16/2012 at 4:46 PM
Miss Molly pulled down the curtains in my bedroom when I first got her and ate a hole in the corner of the duvet cover (easily fixed). But since she's now certain that she's in her forever home, she's a lot calmer.

She loves her crate and will lay in it as a den during the day. She still gets up into the windows, but only the window seat one. Every now and then, she'll knock down the curtain in that window. It's just on a tension rod and I think she's probably antsy when the mail carrier walks by right under the window or when the neighbors come and go, since that window looks onto their porch.

As far as pouting when I get back from vacation, not really. She's just happy that I picked her up from the boarding kennel. She is such a wiggle butt then, and Border Collies have a lot of butt and tail to wiggle!
Wendy
5/16/2012
Miss Molly sounds like a very special lady!
Margie
5/16/2012 at 7:23 PM
We went to Hawaii for 2 weeks and when we returned home our dog greeted us enthusiastically, and then gave us the cold shoulder for about a week. After that, all was forgiven. I guess he thought we had learned our lesson.
Wendy
5/16/2012
This wouldn't be my main man, Winston, would it? I can't imagine him giving anyone the cold shoulder. He was such a wonderful soul, and boy did he love those "mailman" treats and peanut butter paws. :-)
5/17/2012 at 10:11 AM
Isis is still learning what she can and cannot chew. She has a thing for shoes and pillow corners, but we are working on helping her break the urges!

We have traveled extensively with Phoenix. While we lived in Oxford, he traveled on trains and buses to both Brighton and Cornwall. In addition, he regularly accompanied us on shorter day trips ... but, in many ways, it was easier to travel with pets in the UK because of the number of nice, pet-friendly B&Bs and places to eat. For an example, see my post on our Cornwall trip - www.rtp3.com/blog/1563 (but, for some reason, the photos aren't working ... plug-in must be broken). Since moving here, Phoenix goes to NC with us at Christmas, normally goes to the beach (going 10+ hours in the car) at least once per year, and we try to find dog-friendly destinations for vacations. Luckily, Isis likes the car (unlike one of my mom's old dogs that got sick shortly after the car started moving) and so we will be taking her on her first trip soon, I imagine!
5/20/2012 at 10:07 PM
I'm enjoying your blog. Found you via the May Networking Blog Hop. :) Now following via FB and Pinterest.
Wendy
5/21/2012
Thanks so much Kimberly, and welcome!
7/6/2013 at 12:59 PM
Really very nice site and wonderful shared to Napa Valley
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