A tired dog is a good dog. My wife said that the other day and it’s true. A bored dog is trouble. I said that. Recent experiences with our dog Lucy prove out both sayings.
We adopted Lucy a few months ago. She came from a cattle dog rescue group. She’s about a year and a half old and she has boundless energy. She’s a sweet puppy, but she has recently started up with some destructive behavior.
We started off leaving her in her cage all day at work. She came to us cage trained and did just fine. However as we began to build trust in her, we started leaving her out of the cage during the day. After a handful of potty problems, Lucy became very trustworthy of being left to roam the house all day.
This all changed a few weeks ago. Lucy discovered the tissue box we keep on the coffee table. She 
has destroyed at least three tissue boxes since, showing apparent glee for the fine mess then create when tissues are shredded and strewn across the living room rug.
We put up the Christmas tree a couple of weeks before Christmas and it was fine for a few days.
Then one day I got home and a couple of ornaments were on the floor, chewed into tiny bits. The little wooden drummer boy deserved a better fate. I cleaned up the debris and hoped for the best. I was not prepared for what I would find a few days later.
Our fake tree was pitiful to begin with. We got it on sale after Christmas and it was barely four feet tall. It was flimsy and did well just to hold up the ornaments. So it stood no chance against Hurricane Lucy.
I came in from work late one afternoon and the tree was knocked over. Broken ornaments littered the floor. Glass balls were shattered. My prized mountain biking Santa had been removed from his ride and looked like a strangely happy little quadruple amputee. Lucy had herself a heck of a Christmas party. It was quite the mess.
My theory is that the ornaments looked a bit too similar to her dog toys for Lucy to resist. So she didn’t.
I’m convinced that we need to get a tiny tabletop size tree next year, but the wife insists we get a huge real tree. I don’t know if it will fare any better. I guess we’ll have to wait until next year and see.
In the meantime, Lucy is getting lots of long walks as we make a 2015 priority of keeping her a tired, and good dog.
That’s what I’m thinking.
Rick Hadley
24/7 News
