Sometimes, My Dog is a Brat

Our strategy for handling Marcus recently has been simple. If we tire him out with walks, park visits, and indoor play, he shouldn't have the excess energy to cause trouble. The problem with this is that some days I have things that I need to do. Like today's agenda was to go to the pet store, get some writing done, and do my laundry so I have something to wear to work tomorrow. Marcus got up early when Aaron got ready for work, but he came back into the bedroom after he'd gone off to work. Recently, he's been a bit whiny at me when I try to sleep, and today was the exception. He curled up in bed next to me and fell back asleep. I should have know that this would doom me for the rest of the day.

I awoke at 10am to find that he'd realized he fits under the bed, and that he's pulled out everything underneath it that he could reach. Deciding this was my cue to go walk the dog, I did. We had a nice peaceful walk, he got his business done, and I decided he'd calmed down enough to go to the pet store. I had some difficulty getting him into the car because there was a strange man standing next to my car smoking a cigarette, and Marcus didn't want us to get in the car while there was a stranger around. Fine. Picked him up, plopped him in the back, drove to the Pet Store. He was so good on the drive over there, even though it's a bit longer than what he's used to.

We arrived at the pet store, the ladies who worked there marveled at how cute he was and how pretty his fur was, and how he wasn't a bit overweight. He kept trying to pick up a few treats and a particular chew toy and take them out of the store, but since they seemed to be good for him, I picked those up as well. While I'm getting his food, he meets a little poodle puppy, picks her up by the harness, and carries her over to me. Fortunately, the poodle is no worse for the wear, and her owner thinks Marcus is cute, so he gets away with it.

We managed to get home without further effort, and after lunch I started on my laundry. I was sorting my laundry into piles and chucking the socks/underthings into a pile to be done. When I turned around, my sock pile was unexpectedly smaller than I had thought. Marcus was doing his best at trying to look innocent. However, when I walked out into the living room, I found a scattering of socks, suspiciously covered with drool. After I gathered them, I came back into the bedroom to find him chewing on my bra.

I decided to close off the bedroom while I finished sorting my laundry, and then came back out to the Living Room to find that Marcus had been playing with the carpet while I was distracted.

Perhaps more walks are in order today.