Rubix tries to read!

Richard and I have been trying to leave Rubix alone in the house outside of her crate this summer. We're hoping we can get her to the point that she can have the house to herself while we're gone, so she's not cooped up all day during the school year.

In the past, we've just given her the kitchen, and she was fine for 30 minutes, 1 hour, and 3 hours. Then, we tried 5 hours and she ruined a whicker 4 drawer chest we had in the kitchen. No worries, though... it wasn't worth much and we wanted to get rid of it anyway.

So, today I tried leaving her with free rein of the house while I ran a few errands. I unplugged electrical cords within reach, picked up shoes and expensive items off the floor, and placed out the 3 things she's allowed to chew on: her tennis ball, squishy football, and her rubber Kong filled with treats. 45 minutes later, when I arrived home, the kitchen was still intact and my beautiful, innocent puppy greeted me cheerfully at the door.

As I glanced up the stairs to the living room, however, I quickly learned her innocence was short lived. In the 45 minutes that I was gone, she had managed to grab one of my library books off the end table, and had torn it to shreds! I was so mad... but found some delight in realizing that she at least had the decency to leave me the last 1/3 of the book that I hadn't finished. So, I'll be finishing my torn book in the next day or so, and returning the mangled pieces along with $26.00 to the public library!

Oh, the joys of having a dog with a desire to read! I'll certainly be leaving library books out of her reach from now on.