My Dog Gabe

Gabe had a not-so-impressive day today.

Let's start at about 5 am or so. I had Maci, Kodi, and Gabe all sleep in my room last night, so any noises and smells that were produced through the night were somewhat anonymous. However, when I started to hear wretching noises in the dark this morning, I knew they were coming from Gabe. Why? Because the dog ingests anything and everything. Some of his most horrible finds? A thumb tack. A razor. My baby blanket. A phone charger. And countless amounts of hairballs, pinecones, and toilet paper. (and you HAVE to know that soggy paper is absolutely revolting to me!) Anyway. When I turned on the light after hearing him coughing something up, I found in his kennel a tiny piece of a red leash. That leash used to be a sturdy 6 foot training tool, but he managed to bite it in two pieces, and then apparently eat a piece of it yesterday sometime. That was just the start of things.

I left him in the kennel while I went to work for a few hours, and let him back out much to his delight in late morning. We played and I loved on him for a while, but I started to get stir-crazy being here alone and decided to go to Starbucks in mid-afternoon. Gabe was not thrilled to go back in his kennel, but I knew it wouldn't be a lengthy outing. So back in he went. For any of you who have not met Gabe, I can tell you that one of his biggest downfalls is how much he barks in his kennel. Not when I am in the room with him; just when he is all alone. He could probably bark for hours on end but it's hard for me to know since I am out of the house while he is in there. I took all the necessary steps to set him up this afternoon: took off his collar and leash, put treats in his Kong bone and left it in there for him, removed all objects from the immediate vicinity around the kennel, put a clip on the outside of the kennel to help hold the removable tray in the bottom, turned on two fans, and turned on some music for him. But as I returned home later on, it was immediately apparent that somehow, some way, something went wrong. The tray was completely pushed out from under the kennel, and turned at a funny angle. The bone had not been touched. And inside the kennel, there was most definitely an article of my clothing. This isn't the first time he has pulled something inside the kennel with him; but I honestly have NO idea how he does it! He cannot fit his legs through the bars as far as I know and nothing is touching the kennel at any tim. Never fear, though; it was only one of my Petsmart polos. Sure, it's destroyed. But it's all the better to me. I only have two more days to wear one anyway...!

I have been trying to transition Gabe into using the back yard for his outside duties like the rest of the dogs. Today I sent him out by himself for a bit and got a phone call from my mom. I got caught up in the conversation for a while before I panicked about where Gabe was. I started looking around the house but eventually remembered where I had left him. So I stepped out on the deck to call for him and quickly realized he was no longer in our yard; he had gone under the fence into the neighbors' yard with their two big dogs to play. I am all for Gabe having friends and socializing, but those dogs are more excited about Gabe invading their territory than a human being crossing the line. So I stood on my side of the fence, calling to him and trying to convince him to come to me. Now, I didn't really expect that he would come bounding back, but what he did instead ignited severe frustration and rage inside of me. He went over to the opposite side of the yard, stood there, and looked at me. Did not ignore me, did not respond to me, just stared. It was like he knew what was coming. I eventually let Maci and Kodi out to help coax him over, and he finally left his staring contest with me. As he took a pass along the fence to check Maci and Kodi out, I bribed him with the prize of all prizes - a stick. And Gabe went for it. As soon as he was within reach, I grabbed whatever body I could - which happened to be his front leg, and started pulling. I did not want one of the neighbor dogs to go for my arms and I also did not want to break Gabe's arms. He started to scream and panic and I was screaming and panicking and my arms got nice and scraped on the wood fence and I finally managed to get him on his side, grab his scruff, and pull him back under the fence. Tada.

The story does not end here, though. After I took the little red piece of leash that was vomitted out of Gabe this morning from my nightstand and threw it into the trash, I stepped out of my room and into the bathroom. Gabe was right behind me as always. I soon realized that he was chewing on something and pried open his mouth to survey the damage. Yes, the red leash was back in his mouth. I wonder if it even had time to hit the bottom of the trash can before he had it back in his care...

Gabe is the puppy I adopted to be my 'demo dog' for training someday. I have faith and hope that he will soon become that. For now, I will continue to get my hands dirty with him - be it pulling things from his mouth, yanking him under fences, or cleaning up puke.

...but I really do love him.