Dog Woes

The big dog has gotten back into stealing food... and seriously nothing (well at least nothing dog-wise) makes me madder than walking in the door to her cowering and growling at me, knowing she got into something. Sure enough, there's ALWAYS a chewed up bag on the living room rug. In the past, once this has started, she goes on a spree of getting in trouble every day until I rudely nip it in the bud by mousetrapping everything. It usually only takes once or twice of setting a trap off and freaking her out to get her to stop for a year or more. This time, I brought on this rash of bad behavior. I accidently left a bag of groceries on the floor- they were mostly boxed groceries for vacation- but Maggie discovered it and ate through a box of graham crackers... and she's been on this food stealing binge ever since.

Last night I put my new loaf of bread on the counter, in a hard to reach spot, and put a mousetrap in front of it. Usually enough to scare her away. But instead I came home to a growling dog, a chewed up, empty bread bag on the living room floor... and once again had to reiterate that she may spend the REST OF HER LIFE IN A CAGE IF THIS KEEPS UP!! Gosh it makes me mad.

And tonight I recognized that I let it make me too mad and needed to reign in my own reaction. It was a loaf of bread. I knew the risk, even with the mousetrap. I will still win this fight, even after a setback. Maggie will stop stealing food. I can stop coming home dreading what I'm going to find. And life will go on. Deep breath, Reenie, deep breath.

And boy I wish I could say this was the only thing that has gotten me worked up lately...