Of late mysterious little shapes like crop circles have been showing up in the (none too thick) dark brown carpeting of my apartment’s main bedroom. The one I share with Elf the Corgi and Opus the Dachs-Terr.
The things unfailingly appear in the evenings, after dinner, before the dogs’ final outing of the day. Usually when I am occupied at the computer or watching something on Netflix in the living room.
I would like — well, sort of — to believe that mischievous mice were the creators of the designs.
The dogs have had the full run of our various quarters for as long as we’ve been together without such peculiar chewings making themselves known.
Well — there was that day when sweet Elf was a mere four months old. Company sat across from me in the living room, someone I hadn’t met before. So we were being rather formal, and I had Elf on her leash beside me. Snoozing.
Or so I thought.
The visitors maintained steady gazes, straight faces. Eventually they got up to go, and when I moved my wheelchair there, from beneath it, appeared some Extremely Long Strings of carpet fiber. Miz Elf, not so dozey after all, had been positioned where tile met the edge of the living room carpet, and had busied herself with creating fringes in the softer material.
Turns out the visitors had been watching her covertly as I chatted and, not being dog people, had made the determination that I knew all about what was going on beneath the wheelchair’s footrest and didn’t care.
There’s nothing about puppies playing with carpet edges that lovely hot green chili powder can’t cure. One dose back than and Elf has remained steadfast about leaving carpets alone. For seven years.
Which leaves us with this innocent, snuggly, tender hearted, belly-rub craving creature…
I guess. Because he has been discovered nuzzling edges of this inexpensive carpet, even poking an exploratory paw at them.
During this evening’s Human Is Busy time the dear senior dog has had his snuggles and rubs, resting in exile on a living room sofa. Normally Opus would be snoozing on my bed at this time. Tonight — to the sounds of heavy rain and some thunder — Elf and I gaze at the closed bedroom door from the den across the way, scratching our heads over the impracticality of sprinkling fiery chili powder over a rather large carpeted area.
Who knew a dog with hardly any teeth left (Opus is twelve) could while away forty five minutes of a dull evening with gently removing short carpet fibers from whatever it is that holds them in place. The carpet is rather flimsy. But it was new when we moved in here last February.
This has happened three times, spaced widely apart. Eventually I decided that these events were linked with not enough attention earlier on those days. Now I am making a more determined effort not to shirk the duty owed to a professional snuggler.
Oh well… One idea gives me slight comfort now that these apartments have been sold. They are now being billed as “Condos and Apartments” and the new owners have been making rather free with stomping through here measuring the place from one end to the other. If they plan to redo the units as they come vacant — which is one current rumor — perhaps Opus’s I Am Bored And I want A Belly Rub Right This Minute activities won’t cause too much trouble?
Rising Over the Smoke 