Giant stuffed dog toys

Typically, we separate the dogs when we’re not home.  Nellie and Rusty were no exception.  Gambit was closed in the bedroom, where he’d spend the day snoozing on the bed.  Rusty got the living room with access to the couch since he wasn’t a teething mess, and Nellie got the kitchen since her teeth hurt and furniture is a delicious solution to doggy tooth pain.

Everybody gets a toy to chew on.  Nellie hated her teething toy with soft rubber spikes and hard plastic.  She and Gambit yearned to trade toys.   This was strictly forbidden, since Gambit could easily gobble up the teething toy and his Nylabone Durachew was too hard for Nellie’s baby teeth.

Again, all we have to separate the living room and kitchen is a propped up baby gate.  We can make it a sturdy fit to a degree, but the floor plan only allows two of the rubber stoppers to be directly against something.  It’s easy to knock over and relies on the dogs knowing better than to just plow through.

Nellie, it turned out, was not going to learn to respect the gate.

When we came home one day, Nellie ran up to greet us, proud of her accomplishments during the time we were away.  Rusty was sitting between the couches, cowering, with a look of sheer terror in his eyes.

Stuffing and cedar chips were everywhere.

I am not entirely sure how many dog beds have gone through our home in the 14 months since we adopted Gambit despite my attempts to patch them when possible.  My estimate is at least half a dozen, not including a couple blankets that are sometimes used as beds.  As a result, I buy $10 dog beds from Tractor Supply every couple months.

They are regularly torn.  But this one was just shredded.

Someday, Gambit will have a good, comfy, supportive bed.  But as long as a stream of puppies is coming through, that will have to wait.