Young Border Terriers, and I
mean VERY YOUNG, have an amazing ability to create havoc if left alone
to their own devices.
Some years ago we introduced
a youngster to keep our older Border company and, as one does, we
took certain precautions in the house to keep the dogs away from areas
where 'accidental' damage could not be tolerated.
We arranged a barricade across
the kitchen/diner to keep the little horrors in the area of the kitchen
that was covered with easy to clean floor covering and well away from
the carpeted area.
The arrangement worked well for
a while until one morning when the young dog decided to play with
the curtains across the French windows (it hadn't crossed our mind
that curtains might be a target for attack).
When we returned after only a
short time away one of the pair of curtains - which were full length
- was cleanly torn off about 3 feet from the floor.
After a severe telling off, which
sent the young dog into a submissive state, we were convinced that
the lesson had been learnt.
The following day we both had
to go out for a short while and on our return, much to our horror,
the second curtain suffered the same fate as the first, torn off at
the same level.
The pleasure of her achievements
must have outweighed the verbally administered punishment of the previous
day.
At least we once again had a
matching pair of curtains even though they were 3 feet short of the
desired length.
The curtains remained in that
state for a couple of weeks until we were satisfied that the youngster
had grown out of that particular phase of her life.
