Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Signs Your Dog Is A Hoarder

I love my dog. I really really do but lately I have noticed something disturbing. I think Xander may be a hoarder. I knew taking in Xander would be a trial. Jen and I are very busy people. We love Xander a lot and spoil him rotten when we are home but he does spend a chunk of the day at home alone. I assumed that the consequences of that might be some difficulty training, separation anxiety maybe some chewed up window sills but I have to say the hoarder has me stumped.

I first noticed it with his small squeak toys. He would play with them a bit and then they would go missing. I assumed that he tore them up and Jen got rid of them or maybe they were lost behind a bookshelf and lets face it i'm not going back there again until I move out. So I got him few more. One day when I was cleaning out his crate I picked up his bed and what was under there 6 toys! I didn't know what to make of it. Xander is a smart dog surely the toy sliding under his bed wouldn't have stumped him? So I pulled some of the toys out and left him with 1. That night when I put him in his crate he lost his effing mind! He was pacing around like crazy, whining and just wigging out. So I open the crate thinking he may need to go outside one more time...nope he just sits in the crate looks at me and looks back at his bed and nudges. I pull the bed to make sure he didn't bring in something. When the bed reveals the empty crate he for real starts to pace. I think it is silly but I go into his puppy drawer and pull out the toys, Xan is happy again. He jumps out and we play a little and one by one he takes the toys back into crate.
The next morning I notice that the toys are once again under his bed and create such a bump that Xan sleeps tightly curled up on just one side of his bed.

A few days ago I noticed that he had torn apart one of his favorite toys in the back yard. I found a few stray pieces of it in the back yard and threw them into a shallow garbage can in our backyard. I noticed that the tail end was still almost whole and on his outside bed I left it there thinking he would finish destroying in his own time. Well again I found myself cleaning off his outside bed after a Xan muddied it up after some rain. I move the bed and what do I find all of the pieces of the torn up toy including the the head of the toy which I had thrown in the trash earlier.

What does this mean? What have I done to him to make him like this? I can't help but feel like I have failed him in some way. I wonder if there are any good local pet therapists.

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