Monty, part dog...part beaver?
I have a dog....his name is Monty. My family and I picked him up from the pound shortly after we had to put our other dog down. We wanted another animal to love, to give a home to another lost critter.
When we arrived at the animal shelter we saw Monty on a leash. He was a 3 month old Golden Retriever and Bernese Mountain dog mix and just as cute as he could be. The owner had just dropped him off and hour before we arrived at the shelter. It was love at first site. The dear little puppy didn't lunge at the cat near him and didn't seem put off by all the commotion around him. He was good natured and loving with the kids. After spending some time with him we all agreed he was a perfect fit.
It is interesting, but I don't remember his original name....I always remember him as Monty. I joked when we called him that because I said Monty was short for 3-card-Monty. Little did I know there was more truth to that joke than I realized because I believe that dog conned us from the moment he saw us.
Monty isn't evil....but he likes to play the part of evil some days. I should have known something was up when he ate the dental rope. I don't mean chewed a little of it. I mean tore it to shreds and digested the parts one day while I was at work. I stayed up with him for 3 days as he proceeded to puke up ever strand of that rope. I thought it was just a fluke, something that some puppies might do. But I see now I was fooling myself.
We used to love to give Monty toys. His favorite one was a stuffed squirrel. He would play with it and toss it about. Then one day I found it gutted all over the house. My mind flashed back to the dental rope. Strands of rope were bad enough, but I really didn't want to see stuffing come out of Monty. Not to say there isn't some irony of a real dog puking up stuffed animal parts, it's just that it is a little gross when it comes out.
My husband decided to upgrade to stronger toys, thinking the problem was that the dog was just too strong for his own good. We actually found toys listed as "indestructible." We held hope that these toys would last. They didn't. 45 minutes with indestructible toys and they were toast. It was a little like a horror movie for dog toys in our house. They had no chance of survival.
Monty seemed to no longer be satisfied with destroying just dog toys.....his visions grew to other parts of the house. At first I was impressed....I mean what kind of talent does it take for a dog to chew a wall....a flat dry wall. It was almost like he was trying to make a burrow in the wall. My husband was not amused or bemused by our puppy's new talent. In fact I believe the word 'peeved' applied to this scenario. I didn't blame him either. This strange new talent would surely not get us fame or fortune....thought it would test our carpentry skills.
Because of Monty's affinity to chew things we had to keep him in the backroom at night. It was mostly to save things like socks, clothes, garbage, the cat, blankets, and anything else that held Monty's attention. We figured if we kept him in one area he could do less damage. We were correct....kind of. In the backroom he seemed to turn his interest to wood....all things wood. He chewed on my hutch, stairs flavored with linoleum, a support beam, a door, and wooden wall.
Monty was in industrious puppy, because he was just as much fun outside. My entire backyard looked like little bombs went off back there. He LOVED digging. When he got bored with that he then dug under the fences and went for tours of the neighborhood. I bought little fences to barricade him. Monty used those fences as a way to get energy for his escape and run. We turned toward cinder blocks....which he also TRIED to eat. I have to say I was worried for a moment...but alas, it turned out cinder blocks were his kryptonite. Thank goodness because I was running out of ideas.
It occurred to me that I was getting numb to Monty's antics when I watched him eating my rose bush like a goat. I didn't even flinch....I just watched him munching away happily. He looked like he was having a grand ol time. He ate that whole rose bush....down to ground. It still comes back, just more angry every year. I secretly hope that the thorns hurt on the way out some days.
Now Monty is an adult dog and he doesn't chew...not really. Oh sure, every once in a while he gets his "puppy" on and nibbles on a stair, but it's not serious. He has a friend in the backroom with him....Coco. Coco is a dog that we had to take from my mother-in-law because she could not longer care for him. Turns out....Coco was Monty's cure for eating things. Coco is the REAL indestructible toy that Monty has yet to eat. Not for lack of trying.
When we arrived at the animal shelter we saw Monty on a leash. He was a 3 month old Golden Retriever and Bernese Mountain dog mix and just as cute as he could be. The owner had just dropped him off and hour before we arrived at the shelter. It was love at first site. The dear little puppy didn't lunge at the cat near him and didn't seem put off by all the commotion around him. He was good natured and loving with the kids. After spending some time with him we all agreed he was a perfect fit.
It is interesting, but I don't remember his original name....I always remember him as Monty. I joked when we called him that because I said Monty was short for 3-card-Monty. Little did I know there was more truth to that joke than I realized because I believe that dog conned us from the moment he saw us.
Monty isn't evil....but he likes to play the part of evil some days. I should have known something was up when he ate the dental rope. I don't mean chewed a little of it. I mean tore it to shreds and digested the parts one day while I was at work. I stayed up with him for 3 days as he proceeded to puke up ever strand of that rope. I thought it was just a fluke, something that some puppies might do. But I see now I was fooling myself.
We used to love to give Monty toys. His favorite one was a stuffed squirrel. He would play with it and toss it about. Then one day I found it gutted all over the house. My mind flashed back to the dental rope. Strands of rope were bad enough, but I really didn't want to see stuffing come out of Monty. Not to say there isn't some irony of a real dog puking up stuffed animal parts, it's just that it is a little gross when it comes out.
My husband decided to upgrade to stronger toys, thinking the problem was that the dog was just too strong for his own good. We actually found toys listed as "indestructible." We held hope that these toys would last. They didn't. 45 minutes with indestructible toys and they were toast. It was a little like a horror movie for dog toys in our house. They had no chance of survival.
Monty seemed to no longer be satisfied with destroying just dog toys.....his visions grew to other parts of the house. At first I was impressed....I mean what kind of talent does it take for a dog to chew a wall....a flat dry wall. It was almost like he was trying to make a burrow in the wall. My husband was not amused or bemused by our puppy's new talent. In fact I believe the word 'peeved' applied to this scenario. I didn't blame him either. This strange new talent would surely not get us fame or fortune....thought it would test our carpentry skills.
Because of Monty's affinity to chew things we had to keep him in the backroom at night. It was mostly to save things like socks, clothes, garbage, the cat, blankets, and anything else that held Monty's attention. We figured if we kept him in one area he could do less damage. We were correct....kind of. In the backroom he seemed to turn his interest to wood....all things wood. He chewed on my hutch, stairs flavored with linoleum, a support beam, a door, and wooden wall.
Monty was in industrious puppy, because he was just as much fun outside. My entire backyard looked like little bombs went off back there. He LOVED digging. When he got bored with that he then dug under the fences and went for tours of the neighborhood. I bought little fences to barricade him. Monty used those fences as a way to get energy for his escape and run. We turned toward cinder blocks....which he also TRIED to eat. I have to say I was worried for a moment...but alas, it turned out cinder blocks were his kryptonite. Thank goodness because I was running out of ideas.
It occurred to me that I was getting numb to Monty's antics when I watched him eating my rose bush like a goat. I didn't even flinch....I just watched him munching away happily. He looked like he was having a grand ol time. He ate that whole rose bush....down to ground. It still comes back, just more angry every year. I secretly hope that the thorns hurt on the way out some days.
Now Monty is an adult dog and he doesn't chew...not really. Oh sure, every once in a while he gets his "puppy" on and nibbles on a stair, but it's not serious. He has a friend in the backroom with him....Coco. Coco is a dog that we had to take from my mother-in-law because she could not longer care for him. Turns out....Coco was Monty's cure for eating things. Coco is the REAL indestructible toy that Monty has yet to eat. Not for lack of trying.
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