RIPPPPP!

If this guy had thumbs, I tell you what, he'd be picking our locks by now. Pretty soon he'll be holding up a bank.

I knew he liked that garnet color, and I kept the skeins and project up on a high place. Yet, I have no idea how he got to them. Did he push a chair over and use it as a booster? Did he stand on Chuck's back? Or maybe he's hidden one of those "snatchers-on-a-stick" short people use when they want to pull a can of pickled beets out of a high-up cabinet. You know, kinda like those things we use to screw in light bulbs we can't reach.

Lately, I've come home to a kitchen table filled with rat-like paw prints sprinkled all over the top. It took me awhile to understand how Girlfriend's leftover cereal had gone missing after I dropped her off at school in the morning, but now that I've been tucking all the chairs in and clearing the table every morning, those paw prints. Well, they just keep coming.

I am not a student of levitation or of magic tricks (except to say that the magic tricks I've seen are far from riveting), and I do know this guy can jump pretty high. But honest and truly, he's eight pounds and has three-inch legs. You do the math. I'm beginning to think there's a leprechaun hiding in the closet who's helping him out.

I sat for hours attempting to untangle one of the yarn piles. They used to be nice little twisted hanks, the ones that look sort of like poops. But, unlike my favorite yarn store person, I do not like sitting and trying to untangle messes. And I refuse to bring the piles into the shop and ask her to do it for me like so many customers seem to do.

So I ordered two more hanks from kpixie.com so I can finish this garnet colored Somewhat Cowl. I had so much faith in this sweater that I actually scored a lipstick to match (Bobby Brown Burgundy). Now, I absolutely have to finish it.

What to do? What to do? Put Rocko in the circus? Send him to boarding school? Put up a few nanny cams and watch what he is really up to while we're not around? I mean, I knew he liked to chew, but this is ridiculous.

The only thing I can honestly say in his defense is, at least he doesn't pee in the house.

Comments

[Dannette]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for not taking it to the LYS. The only time I have ever let my feelings flash across my face was the time a lady pulled out her plastic grocery sack of "mess" and began to fling it hither and tither saying "fix it!!". I very nicely told her that I could do exactly what she could do and that was to find and end and start winding.

[Trish]

I think you need a Nanny cam - I would pay money to see the footage of how he got to that yarn! Love Bobbi Brown burgandy - it's one of my faves along with Rose Sugar and Ruby Sugar lip glosses.

P.S. I don't know exactly what kind of person expects a yarn shop to untangle their yarn...probably the same kind of person in car line at school. You know the one who gets out of their car, opens the trunk, rustles around the 10 grocery bags looking for snacks, saunters back to her car, takes a phone call and THEN decides to pull away from the curb.

[Marie Grace]

And I thought I had puppy trouble!

Our new puppy, Tucker, is a German Shepherd and at 5 1/2 months he's 50lbs of chewing, romping energy. I just know that if I had homework... he'd eat it.

Those little doggies are quite nimble.

And you're right... at least he isn't peeing where he shouldn't :-)

[Gillian]

I get a kind of satisfaction out of untangling stuff. Mind you, I don't look to tangle it in the first place. Nice colour.

[Cat P]

Oh Lordy! LOL I vote for a Nanny Cam. Poor little guy needs a hobby.

[LittleWit]

If Charlotte was there she could make a web that said "That's some dog!" I would love to see how your pup gets up on that table.

[Jean Marie]

Oh my! what a mess! It would be interesting to see how he does it (and maybe good for Funniest Home Videos!).

More activity/toys (perhaps he's bored!) so he's worn out while you are gone and will sleep.

Or, depending on your view of this, while you are out, crate?

[sue Treiber]

uh oh. Bad doggie...

[Enjay]

Spray No bitter apple spray and a couple of Kong type treat toys helped protect my yarn/fleeces from my dog when I wasn't around, and I also worked with her in clicker training the command leave it. Here's a video of pretty much what I did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i-L3-gqWic I haven't watched his other videos so I can't endorse them.
good luck!

[Meg]

I have a special doggie too, who took to, and did in a skein of lovely Orenburg lace yarn that she "found" on the kitchen table, (on the kitchen table, for pete's sake! Nothing is sacred.) There is no pulling it apart- the yarn I mean. A year later, the doggie still enjoys her spot on the couch and my yarn has a new spot with a basket that has a lid that latches. And I haven't even had a chance to touch the other skein of orenberg lace. Oh well-It's premium Stash.

[PainterWoman]

My daughter's dog seems to chew yarn in direct proportion to the price per ounce. He has taught HER to put her yarn behind closed doors.
Condolences

[Wendy]

As to the crate idea: We put him in a crate and in a pen but the Houdini that he is sort of scrambled out. Every time we put him in one of the contraptions, whenever we would come home later, he'd meet us at the back door...

[sandy]

Oh, I can so relate... I can't tell you how many evenings I've spent detangling rather than knitting!! Or having to reorder gnawed or mangled knitpicks DPN's in order to finish a saved sock.
The dogs really seem to have developed great taste in yarn, they never go after the less expensive stuff, that's for sure! I haven't noticed if they have any colour preferences though...

[yberry]

You do realize that once you write that he doesn't pee in the house you've set yourself up to be proven wrong, do you?

When our family dog was a pup, she was like that - about the size of my foot but able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. I lost many pairs of shoes to thinking I had put them high enough to be safe. My advice - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Teach her some cool tricks like jumping up to remove a fish from your mouth like the killer whales at Seaworld.

[(formerly) no-blog-rachel]

Oh Rocko. You're lucky you're so freakin' cute.

[Jessajune]

I have a cat that chews yarn as well... it's pretty much impossible to stick it somewhere he can't get to unless it requires thumbs to open (he's good with doors, too). I learned that lesson pretty quickly, but then, I already knew he went after my shoelaces, so I should have known from the start.

Funny how they always choose the good stuff, isn't it? My condolences.

[Theresa]

He can get out of a dog crate that latches? How in the heck? The latch is one of those ones that takes two fingers to open (you squeeze two fingers together)?

[Liz T.]

I vote for nanny-cam. You can always send it into "Animals do the funniest things".

[Debbie]

Oh get a Nanny cam! That way we all can see how Rocko does it.

[Marion]

Ok after reading this (Thanks Rocko for the idea) LOL That I should start a mail order detangleing business! LOL LOL LOL
Have people send me the mess and I untangle it for a small fee. Or maybe just have them send me the yarn that is tangled that they will never bother with? And I pay them a small fee? Ok ok im silly but it sounded good and I can never afford that expensive yarn. But in my defense I do spin some lovley yarn of my own? Marion

[Debbie]

Rocko, I'm in love with you! He's a frat boy! Yes, a cam. What fun would that be? I'll bet Chuck sits back and just shakes his head. HA!

[Susan]

I have a similar story...I was working on a pair of fingering weight olive drab socks for the Socks for Soldiers organization (they send handknit socks for our troops). These suckers had 12 inch legs and I'd finished the heel and was working down the foot when I decided to set the socks down and get in the spa. When I got back our great dane/hound mix puppy--who was enormous at 8 months--had spread the socks along with the remaining yarn all over the living room. He'd also gotten ahold of another skein of pink variegated yarn so the room was covered in enormous tangles of pink and olive drab yarn with Boomer standing right in the middle, tail a-wagging. That's the closest I ever came to killing a dog. I spent some time trying to to untangle but ended up throwing the whole mess in the trash.

[Shawnee]

We rescued a wire-haired terrier who was a BAD BOY like yours! :> It took us over a year, using lots of love and patience, but I wouldn't trade him for the world now. Take a few deep breaths (maybe a hundred or so) and know, it WILL get better!

[courtney (knitnpurlgurl)]

Oh....thats a bad dog! I would keep my yarn in a room with the door closed if my dogs were like that :-)

[Jennifer]

I've seen little dogs do very creative climbing--I hope you find a way to stop it. But who would ever think that one human could inflict such awfulness on another? People actually do that?