The Case of the Chaotic Christmas: Whodunit?
The dogs were confined to the den by a wooden baby gate while hubbie and I were out this evening. We came home to find our home had been made into the scene of a major crime, possibly a doggie felony had been committed!
The gate was lying on the floor, and only one dog (Gracie) remained in the den. She greeted us with the wagging of her stubby tail and a goofy (yet innocent) grin.
Bela was nowhere to be found on the lower level of the house. She was eventually found running nervously and fearfully around the living room, whimpering softly, a worried expression on her face.
In the den, chaos reigned. A small bag of dog food had been removed from the top of the desk's hutch (which is as tall as I am) and now lay, empty, on the floor. The unopened bag of dog treats had not been opened, but it was chewed and bits of the mylar bag covered the floor.
In the living room, the festive coffee table had been robbed of its crystal fruit bowl, which lay upside down and empty under the Christmas tree seven feet away. The rug was littered with the remains of two oranges, an apple, candy wrappers and walnut & pecan shells. The pleasant odor of the chewed orange peels almost, but not quite, drowned out the unmistakeable odor of poop that had been deposited neatly underneath the center of the dining room table.
The kitchen held most of the horror. The full trash can had been overturned and the yukky contents spread all over the floor. Here, the odor of last night's onion remains dominated. Every bit and piece from the trash can had been thoroughly chewed and scattered in several pieces over the freshly-mopped floor. A kitchen towel lay limply in front of the refrigerator, many of its threads pulled completely out and others trailing from its edges.
Going up the stairs, we found the remains of several candy canes that were previously on the Christmas tree. Sticky wrappers and broken bits of candy everywhere! At the top of the stairs, a large yellow stain spread out on the carpet. Oh joy.
Continuing into the master bedroom, an especially aromatic piece of kitchen trash had somehow ended up in the middle of the bed. In many pieces. We had had reuben sandwiches last night from Arby's, and apparently the wrappers were irresitible to the culprit.
We smelled another suspicious poop odor, and could not find it until I turned on the guest room light. Horrors! A huge poop had been dumped in the smack-dab middle of the guest room bed! Not just your average pick-it-up-in-a-sandwich-bag poop, but a wet, loose poop that had soaked into the quilt and the bedding underneath. As an added bonus, there was another large yellow wet spot almost but not quite under the edge of the bed.
So who was the nefarious perpetrator of these ghastly crimes? One of the dogs? Both of the dogs? Some unrelated third party that wished to sabotage our holiday weekend guests?
The dogs were confined to the den by a wooden baby gate while hubbie and I were out this evening. We came home to find our home had been made into the scene of a major crime, possibly a doggie felony had been committed!
The gate was lying on the floor, and only one dog (Gracie) remained in the den. She greeted us with the wagging of her stubby tail and a goofy (yet innocent) grin.
Bela was nowhere to be found on the lower level of the house. She was eventually found running nervously and fearfully around the living room, whimpering softly, a worried expression on her face.
In the den, chaos reigned. A small bag of dog food had been removed from the top of the desk's hutch (which is as tall as I am) and now lay, empty, on the floor. The unopened bag of dog treats had not been opened, but it was chewed and bits of the mylar bag covered the floor.
In the living room, the festive coffee table had been robbed of its crystal fruit bowl, which lay upside down and empty under the Christmas tree seven feet away. The rug was littered with the remains of two oranges, an apple, candy wrappers and walnut & pecan shells. The pleasant odor of the chewed orange peels almost, but not quite, drowned out the unmistakeable odor of poop that had been deposited neatly underneath the center of the dining room table.
The kitchen held most of the horror. The full trash can had been overturned and the yukky contents spread all over the floor. Here, the odor of last night's onion remains dominated. Every bit and piece from the trash can had been thoroughly chewed and scattered in several pieces over the freshly-mopped floor. A kitchen towel lay limply in front of the refrigerator, many of its threads pulled completely out and others trailing from its edges.
Going up the stairs, we found the remains of several candy canes that were previously on the Christmas tree. Sticky wrappers and broken bits of candy everywhere! At the top of the stairs, a large yellow stain spread out on the carpet. Oh joy.
Continuing into the master bedroom, an especially aromatic piece of kitchen trash had somehow ended up in the middle of the bed. In many pieces. We had had reuben sandwiches last night from Arby's, and apparently the wrappers were irresitible to the culprit.
We smelled another suspicious poop odor, and could not find it until I turned on the guest room light. Horrors! A huge poop had been dumped in the smack-dab middle of the guest room bed! Not just your average pick-it-up-in-a-sandwich-bag poop, but a wet, loose poop that had soaked into the quilt and the bedding underneath. As an added bonus, there was another large yellow wet spot almost but not quite under the edge of the bed.
So who was the nefarious perpetrator of these ghastly crimes? One of the dogs? Both of the dogs? Some unrelated third party that wished to sabotage our holiday weekend guests?
