Mr. Naughtypants

I have a new nickname for Rip.  Mr. Naughtypants.  You can probably guess - at least generally - how he got that nickname.  To make the point well, let me share a couple of examples.  Both of these incidents occurred today.

Story #1:  Home Alone

The Husband was working away from home today, so the petsitter came in a couple of times to let the dogs out.

When I left home, I put Rip in the expen so he'd have a little more room to move around.  Here's how things looked when I left home:

Puppy in his pen with nice resting pad and lots of toys

When I arrived home to let Rip out of his pen, here's how it looked.

Flattened pen with no puppy

Thankfully, the puppy was put back in his crate.  Also thankfully, we've learned to keep any moveable, chewable objects on the "non-dog" side of the baby gates.

The note from the petsitter started with "All three met me at the (baby) gate.  Not sure if you wanted Rip out or not..."

Our petsitter knows us well enough to know that naughty little puppies aren't allowed to roam around unsupervised in our home, which is why he was back in the crate.

I guess this means no expen when we're out of the house anymore.  Either that or I need to pull out the extra heavy duty "child expen" we bought when The Child was still a baby.

Story #2:  Who needs toys?

...when you can just chew on the basket.

I was finishing up a few work emails after putting The Child to bed.  Rip & Ziggy were in the family room, keeping themselves busy.

Then things became strangely quiet, and I heard an unusual gnawing noise.

I peered around the room screen to find one naughty puppy chewing away on the side of the basket where the toys usually live.

Mr. Naughtypants caught in the act!

Note all of the toys are out of the basket.

Floor is covered in toys, yet puppy is chewing on the basket.

To tell the whole story, I'll crop the picture a little differently...  Notice Ziggy on the sofa to the right.  He was intently watching Rip destroy the basket.  Ziggy says, "A naughty puppy is better than TV!"

 

At least Mr. Naughtypants is cute and smart....