Meet Forrest. An eleven year old Boxer mix that's certainly old enough to know better.
Forrest grew up as a puppy at my house, while his owner (my son) was deployed to Afghanistan. I was in charge of his housebreaking, dealing with his rambunctious puppy behavior, and teaching him a few basic tricks. After Ryan returned home, his living arrangements didn't allow him to keep Forrest. My ex-husband had a house in the country and Forrest moved in with him.
Forrest has visited several times over the years. For instance, my ex-husband (Randy) comes over to visit our grandkids when I have them for a weekend and Forrest comes along. And when Randy has taken short overnight trips, Forrest has come to stay with 
Randy and Forrest have lived alone at Randy's house for the past 10 years. Best of buds and almost inseparable. Forrest is used to being the center of Randy's attention. One weekend a female friend came to spend the weekend and Forrest was less than thrilled. He actually peed in the poor girl's suitcase, which was sitting open on the floor. Hmmm, jealous much? But mission accomplished because the woman took her smelly suitcase and went home.
Then Randy meets Kathy and she ultimately moved in. More jealousy? Nope, he LOVES Kathy. Follows her from room to room, goes to bed when she goes to bed, gets up when she gets up. And is sure to sit by her at meals, since she feeds him from the table. (A no-no up until now!)
One day Randy and Kathy went on a day trip and left Forrest at home. He's used to going everywhere with them, or only being left for a short time. I guess this time they were gone too long to suit him.
When they got home they were met with a little gift of Forrest's displeasure. Was something of Kathy's harmed? NOPE. It was Randy's house shoe, and it was filled to the brim with dog pee - and nary a drop spilled. Kathy thought it rather hilarious, but I daresay Randy didn't see the humor.
Randy and Kathy got married a few weeks ago and we volunteered to keep Forrest with us while they went on a week-long honeymoon. All was great, we love having Forrest. But we never planned on leaving him home alone, not wanting to see a repeat of the "filled shoe" if he might get upset at being left.
His feeding routine (minus Kathy's table scrap feedings) was a scoop of dry food topped with a can of soft food with gravy. Even though you stir it all together, Forrest daintily picks out the chunks of meat and ignores what is left. He and
Then Forrest added a new message. He pulled a blue gel sole insert out of one of
We're now into day five of Forrest's visit and he's never been away from Randy for that long, but it wasn't seeming to bother him since he was familiar with us and he grew up here. But we still weren't planning on leaving him alone in the house. On Monday
But plans go awry. My son got sick on Sunday with a trip to ER, then a follow-up visit with his doctor on Monday. On Tuesday morning they called for him to come in for a CT scan and I was called upon to take him to the hospital, with no prior notice. So leave Forrest alone, I must. I knew it would only be for a couple of hours and I assured Forrest I wouldn't be gone long.
A few hours later, I came in the back door and was met happily by Forrest. The shoes at the back door were all intact (and empty!) and I was praising Forrest for being a good boy as we walked together into the living room.
And this is what I see. This is MY rocking chair, the one I sit in 99% of the time. I'm the only one who sits there, unless my grandson, Roman, is here, and he always takes it over with a grin.
I stop in my tracks and turn to Forrest with a glare. Not a word yet, just THE LOOK. And swoosh Forrest is gone. Straight for the back door, where he sits staring at the door knob like it is going to open and let him escape.
I called him back to the scene of the crime and made him sit while I cleaned up the mess and explained to him how disappointed I was in him. He kept his head turned the whole time. And yes, I had taken the time to let him outside before I left, there was no excuse for this. It was all Forrest expressing his displeasure - against ME - for leaving him alone. He knew exactly what he did and why he did it.
And this is how he pretty much rolled for the rest of the night:
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[credit@EdibleCthulhu]
