Hotels - 1, Dog - 0

Have you ever had a new-ish dog or cat who ABSOLUTELY HAD to chew through anything and everything they find?

Shoes?

Furniture?

Electrical cords?

My dog Melody is a chewer.  Correction, my GIRLFRIEND'S dog Melody is a chewer.  (if we ever split, she gets the damn dog.  No question there...)

She has chewed through countless pairs of shoes, sticks of deodorant, eye drops, and much more.  We finally had her spayed this last week, so we are hoping this will calm her down a bit...

But still.  Chew chew chew.  Gnaw gnaw gnaw.  Even when we give her "busy" toys, she finds things to chew, like the sprinklers or solar lighting outside...

I was always careful to put my things away, so I was never the victim.  Until one day, I left my phone charger in an accessible spot.  Surprise surprise, it was mauled and shredded when I came back to get it.

I was miffed.  Sure, it's my own fault, since I know she's a chewer, but I wanted to flog her senselessly.  I was tempted to call in my friend, Fred the buttsex horse to teach her a lesson:

...but cooler heads prevailed.  I was just going to have to accept the loss and go buy a new charger.

...but wait...

I'm creative, and awesome.  I know what to do!

During my next overnight trip out of town, I asked the hotel clerk if they had a lost and found.  You see, I *cough* lost my phone charger the last time I stayed here, and was wondering if someone turned it in...

*cough*

Lo and behold, he pulls out the exact charger I needed.  Motorola micro-SD charger that separates into a USB cable.  A $39.99 value, at no cost to me.

Sorry dog.  You can knock me down, but you'll never knock me out.

Protip:  Things are left in hotel rooms all the time.  Most times, people check into a hotel room, check out, leave something behind (a phone charger, for example) and never return.  I have friends in the hotel industry that will confirm this.  Me, being a regular traveler, can use this to my advantage from time to time.  It doesn't always work (more in large metropolitan areas and better hotels) but when it does, it'll save you some dough.

My question to you:  Is that awesome?  Is it thievery?  Or is it a gray area in-between?  What's done is done, and I'm keeping this charger (and hiding it from the damn dog...) but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter...

Meet Melody

With my new job, I spend a lot of time on the road and away from home.  Because of this, my girlfriend has had some sleepless nights.  She wanted to get a dog to help her feel more secure, and after some hesitation I agreed.

(My original argument was 'get a gun.'  Why?  You don't have to feed a gun anything but bullets, and they don't poop in the yard...)

After a long week in Montana, I came home to a black German Shepherd named Princess.  She's 18 months old, fairly trained, really sweet, and one sharp cookie.

Except... Princess.  What a lame name...

After some consideration, the gf picked Melody.  I preferred Gir, but that's just me.

Melody is very well-behaved, and just needs a little more training before she's the perfect dog.  Unlike the Miles experiment, this dog may just work out for us.  She wants to socialize with the cats, but not eat them.  The cats are adjusting better with Mel than they did with Miles, so I'm quite pleased.

My one complaint really isn't a true complaint, but she's definitely mommy's girl.  She still needs an escort outside to potty, because she has some major separation-issues.  I take her outside and she'll do her business, UNLESS the gf is home.  Then it has to be her.

I almost wanted to name her Shadow, because she shadows my gf around everywhere.  It makes sense, since they were alone together for two days before I came home, but she's still not adjusting to me as fast as she is to 'mommy.'

Since I'm back in the pet industry, this pooch is going to be spoiled.  She's eating a premium food (which is good, because she was anorexic-thin when we got her...), getting all the coolest toys and treats, and will always have the best of the best.

Best of all, Miles didn't last 3 days before he overwhelmed us.  Melody is on day 5 and things are good.

I think it's official... I have a dog.  Well, not exactly.  The girlfriend has a dog.  Maybe I'll eventually get one of my own?  We will see.

If I ever get a dog specifically for me, he's going to have to be a consummate road dog.

awwwww yeah....