My Dog is a Cliche

When we first got him last summer, Pupper would poop and/or pee somewhere inappropriate almost as soon as we were out the door if we left him home alone outside his kennel, then spend the rest of the time we were gone howling. After a couple months of being in the kennel whenever we weren't home, he was doing great outside it for up to two hours by November. That is, until the night we came home from dinner to find him foursquare on the coffee table finishing up the Hershey's Kisses and the candy canes. He suffered no ill effects (unless you consider the well-deserved sugar crash and hangover) from his indulgence, but it earned him a return to the kennel whenever we were not home.

Last night we left him loose for a couple hours while we were at the Lenten Study/Dance Party. When we came home, we found this:

Yep, that's what it looks like. One chewed up, nearly brand new LL Bean slipper sock:

I LOVE these slippers. I got my first pair in college, and I replaced them every couple of years as they wore out (actually LL Bean replaced them -- gotta love that guarantee) until the year they informed me they had discontinued them. I was heartbroken. [And, no, it never occurred to me to make any for myself. These are lined and have foam bottoms (which are clearly visible in the chewed image above), and there are other things I would rather knit.]

Anyway, last Fall, M discovered that they had them again, and she got me a pair for Christmas. I can't express how thrilled I was. Nor can I express how very sad I am right now. They don't have them anymore. Well, they have them: only in stripes; and not in XS for my tiny feet.

Since I spend most of my day working at home now, these slippers pretty much lived on my feet. Dog experts would point out that that's exactly why Pupper chose to chew on them when he got nervous about being home alone. And I'm not mad at the dog. Even when we first discovered the evidence, I wasn't mad, just overwhelmingly sad.

So once again, Pupper will spend his time home alone in the kennel. He loves his kennel -- in fact, his kennel is in the office right next to my desk, and now that I spend much of the morning at the desk, he spends said time sleeping in his kennel next to me -- but I still can't help feeling a little bad locking him up when we're not home.

In other news, THEY'RE DONE! Here is the last (and brightest) of the Project Linus blankets:

Yes, that's the culprit appropriating it. I put it on the floor, turned around for the camera, and turned back to this. It was a move worthy of the K-man:

seen here lying atop the ribbing of the Penguin Sweater and one of my irreplaceable walnut Brittany needles.

M can now finish her cuddly Kochoran jacket which had been languishing since the start of this whole blanket project.

And now I must off to do some cleaning.