Lesson learned: dogs need boundaries, too

We recently made a move from a two-story house in Santa Clara Heights to a single story in St. George, for which my bad knees and neuropathetic feet are very grateful.

After moving we had to reinstate the drip system our Labrador puppy had dismantled at the Santa Clara house when she was a young one.  Winnie celebrated her first birthday last month, and has matured (or at least grown)…somewhat.

Little did we know that while we were repairing her masterpiece of a destruction job in Santa Clara, she was “remodeling” the back yard at the new house more to her liking.  Within a matter of days, Winnie managed to remove all of the drip hoses from the trees, frustrating but fixable.  She then went to work on the bigger job of disconnecting the main sprinkler lines from both the front and back yards.

This was quite a feat considering she had to locate the lines under dirt, rock and paper.  She has a very keen and precise sniffer.

Needless to say, my husband had had enough, and the order of the day was to find a new home for Winnie.  But there are not many folks who want to adopt a juvenile Lab who has a mind of her own and a seemingly less-than-teachable spirit.

Not willing to take her to an animal control shelter, we amended our thinking.  She was no longer allowed in the back yard unsupervised and she would make more trips to doggy daycare. We also reinforced our new sprinkler lines with a six-inch deep ditch, wire mesh, more paper, rocks and dirt, which, by the way, she’s already started to work on.

When we weren’t home, she would stay in the house. Before we would leave the house we took Winnie out in the backyard and run her legs off so she would be tired enough to take a nap.

This last step seemed like a good one until we came home to a chewed up Dish remote control and half-read paperback.  It was then we realized that Winnie’s separation anxiety issues were much deeper than originally thought.

We were left with two remaining choices: hire a doggy therapist or buy a crate.  Calculating the cost of these two options I hit the internet to learn how to crate train a wayward pup.  We purchased our crate and set out to save the world from mass destruction, at least our little corner of it.

I have become a firm believer in boundaries.  Winnie eats her meals in her crate, and she is confined there when there is no one home.  The wire crate has become a         

And to my delight and surprise, Winnie likes her new boundaries as much as I do.  She has a plethora of new chew toys, some of which hold hidden edible treasures to keep her busy while confined.  Winnie has even managed to find favor with Mr. Tommer. Yes, miracles do happen.

Rhonda Tommer is a resident of St. George and a member of the writers group. She can be reached at r.tommer.writersgroup@gmail.com