Guilty as Charged!

Many of you know that I convinced my hubby that we should get a couple of collies and eventually breed them. I was raised with collies and have never found another dog that is so loyal, loving and smart WITH the exception of my nearly perfect dog, Reilly, who was a border collie. He truly was close to being THE perfect dog. Sure, he had some eccentricities like chasing the vacuum cleaner, going bonkers over drills and hammers and trying to bite hair dryers. Oh! And the best one was refusing to be in the house when we cooked lamb. (After all he was born to protect them and here we are, his masters, eating them!) But he truly was a perfect dog. But I digress.

The "breeding and raising cute collies" thought went quickly out the window as soon as Skye went through her first cycle. I pin the badge of "Courage and Patience" on anyone who can suffer through a two-week breeding cycle. No cute puppies are worth that! Both of them were quickly taken care of and never shall we trample down THAT road again.

Skye is a small and beautiful, sable, female collie - very, very smart! Kallum is a large and beautiful tri-color collie -- very, very dumb. Not sure how we managed both end of the spectrums, but that's who we have!

After many months of chewing up two coffee tables, losing many pairs of shoes and countless pieces of clothing, and the destruction of our the entire irrigation system in the backyard, we thought we were past the their chewing years. Yeah, not so much.

For the last two nights, we have come home to the total desecration of one of their dog beds that they LOVE. Of course, we don't have a clue which one is doing it so they both get a tongue lashing and the worst possible thing -- banishment to the backyard while we're home. Oh! the sad faces, the whines and the occasional pawing of the patio door as they whimper to come inside with us.

And for two nights in a row, I have spent at least four hours mending the rips and putting the stuffing back in the bolster bed pondering which one was responsible. Last night, I finished and as soon as I set it on the floor, Skye came over, sniffed it, got inside it, circled and plopped down, happy as can be. I hadn't put the pad back in the bottom of it yet and the sound of her plopping down inside it, on the hard floor, was pathetic.

She finally got up and just as quickly, Kallum came in and did the same thing. How sweet was that? They LOVE those beds.

As my heart was melting at their sweetness and as I turned away to do something else, I heard the most awful sound....especially when you've just finished with another two hours of mending. A RIP! There was Kallum, with his head lying on the bolster, his small eyes looking up at me adoringly and his teeth sunk into the fabric of the bed that I just repaired. GUILTY I cried out, glad to know who was finally responsible but SERIOUSLY, right in front of me?

The beds made it through the night, but this morning -- well, I heaved them over the railing into a partitioned room to which they don't have access. Ha! I said, as I left -- sleep on the floor today buckaroo! See how you like that! But as I walked away, I swear I heard them thinking...  Ha! We'll just eat the carpet instead! I am soooo afraid to go home tonight!!!