“When Jango was 9 months old, he stayed at my friend’s house while I was moving. While there, he managed to tear down ALL of the phone lines, TV cable lines, and the piping that held the electrical lines along the side of the house! (He didn’t get hurt, thank God.) If that wasn’t enough, he started chewing the siding off the house, and pulled the dryer vent right out of the house. NEXT, he dug his way under the house’s crawlspace and ran around in there like a wild banshee. He chewed all the hanging wiring that was UNDER the house. I ended up re-wiring the phone and cable lines on one whole side of the house, then crawled under the house so I could run wiring and build a crawlspace cover – so he couldn’t do it all over again! Thank God I’m a woman with some wiring and construction/building skills – and that my friends didn’t kill me or my dog. Jango was the dog of a lifetime.”
– Charlene, MO

“Abe’s in charge of protecting our chickens. The first day he was with us, he destroyed two dog crates. One was wire, and he bent it all to heck and escaped. We then put him in another crate – plastic. He got his teeth around the air vents and chewed his way out.
   He also has a bad habit of chewing his beds and blankets. So far, though, Scout’s dog bed has not been chewed! He has a strong affinity for seat belts and has destroyed four. The funniest thing was what he did to a leather-covered down pillow. When I went to let him out of his crate, I could only see his nose! He’d torn the pillow apart and was surrounded by a ball of down feathers! And he was no worse for wear, and likely thoroughly enjoyed himself.
   He collects our shoes every day and brings them to his bed. Not just shoes, either, but large boots – which weigh nearly as much as he does!
   Believe it or not, he is pretty good at his job. He keeps the foxes, squirrels, deer, chipmunks, raccoons and skunks (been sprayed twice) at bay. A bit neurotic, but we love him anyway. We wouldn’t trade him for the world!”
– Sandi and Bill, MN

“When he was about one year old, I made the decision that my wonderful mutt, Thurston, was ready to have the house to himself while I was at work. The first day, I crossed my fingers, and was incredibly proud when I returned home to everything in its right place. The next few days confirmed my belief that I had a well-trained, well-mannered furry friend. Until the fourth day (insert ominous music)… On the fourth day, Thurston destroyed EVERYTHING. When I got home, I couldn’t open the door. He had knocked my bike over and it wedged between the door and a chair. With a good shove, the door flew open to reveal an unimaginable scene: houseplants knocked over and scattered, their soil in huge piles all over the carpet, records (mostly vintage and irreplaceable) with their sleeves torn and vinyl chewed, books shredded, dishes broken, and in the middle of it all, Thurston. It was all I could do to control my temper as I let him outside and began to inventory the damages. Several hours, three trash bags and an encyclopedic volume of swearing later, I let Thurston back in and we had a good talk about the day’s events. For now, I take him with me if the job site allows it, but for long days, he is back in confinement. Fortunately, he has Duluth’s wonderful toys to look forward to when I get home!”
– Aaron, CO

“I went to visit my father in the hospital and left my German shepherd in the car, as I had many times before. When I got back to the car, I found sponge rubber everywhere inside the car, and Sharef was lying comfortably across the back seat. The windows had been left open, and I wondered if someone had thrown something into the car.
   When we got home, Sharef didn’t want out of the car – and for good reason. As he moved off the back seat, I found a neat 9x9 square of missing seat cover – which he somehow opened and used to remove the stuffing from the rest of the back seat.
   Then things just got better. There was a delay getting the new seat cover from the factory, and I took a trip to San Diego with the dog and no back seat. On the return, I was stopped at the immigration checkpoint near Camp Pendleton Marine Base. The officer had stopped me because he spotted the missing back seat as the cars lined up. He questioned why the back seat was missing, suspecting I was moving illegals through California. I started to tell him the story about the dog chewing up the back seat and could tell he wasn’t buying it. At that moment, Sharef awoke from the back seat floor and leapt up with a ferocious bark. The startled officer jumped back from the window and shouted at me to get moving!”
– Chuck, CA