Scrubby and the pacifier

I must start by writing what a good dog we have. I mean, I've always loved my dog, but truly, until the last two weeks, I usually was not able to say "good" and "dog" in the same sentence. Scrubs was energetic, yes. He was mischievous, yes. He was rambunctious, yes. But "good" . . . only when he wanted to be.

I think a lot of people have been praying for me and praying for my Scrubby, because truly, during the last two weeks, our Scrubs has sort of turned into a regular dog. While my Mom was here, I had more than one occasion where Scrubs put me in tears. Mostly tears of fear. Fear of how I was going to be able to take care of THREE children all day long. Fear of what would happen if I couldn't do it. Fear of having to admit that Scrubs was too much for me to handle. We committed to be Scrubs' family, but the feeling that he was the hardest part of my daily schedule did not seem like something I would be able to handle for very long.

But seriously, Scrubs has sort of turned a corner. And turned it at just the time I needed him to. (Although JB said I should remember this when he decides to turn the corner back in the other direction and leaves me exasperated on a future occasion.) It's as if he can tell that I am so busy with the two boys and that he just has to be my company and not my pain in the butt. He actually sits in front of me when I am feeding Elijah now. Or he lays by my feet. He can be out and wandering the house and I don't feel the need to check on him every other minute. Oh he still goes crazy when new people come to visit and whines like a mad man when he thinks I am contemplating a walk and likes to dig holes when left for too long in the backyard and throws himself into the sliding glass door if he sees the fox, but he has really calmed down as he is nearing two and has really been staying out of trouble.

So I write all that because Scrubs' improved behavior is one of the reasons that when I walked from the kitchen to the living room last night, I didn't even think to myself, "I wonder what Scrubs is up to." I was simply done with whatever I was doing in the kitchen and moving back into the living room. That's it. No need to check on the Scrubinator. He was probably sitting by the window guarding the house from the mom with the stroller and lying next to Isaac while Isaac hit him with blocks. Or maybe he'd be under the highchair, seeing if Isaac had thrown him any free food.

But Scrubs was not being the "good" dog that he has been over the last two weeks, and he instantly gave that away when I entered the living room. As soon as I walked in, he jumped into the middle of the room, stared at me, and then ran and hid under the dining room table.

"What'd you do, Scrubby?!"

I took a quick glance around the room. Nothing looked out of place. I was just about to give him the benefit of the doubt, when he took off from underneath the dining room table and ran right into his kennel. This is a dead giveaway that he knows he was doing something he shouldn't have been doing. We curbed his stealing months ago by spraying him in the mouth with a bitter dog deterrent every time he stole anything that wasn't his. He hates this stuff and will run right into his kennel and hover in the back to avoid the dreaded spray. The spray was the best thing we ever did. It totally fixed the theft problem. Or sort of fixed it.

He still has momentary relapses.

I looked around the room again. That's when I saw it! Scrubs has an addiction for Elijah's pacifier. He really tries to leave it alone, but he just can't control himself sometimes. He'll go in for a lick any chance he gets. This time he had taken the pacifier over to the corner of the room and had been going to town on it when I caught him in the act.

I really had to laugh. I could just picture him trying not to grab the pacifier but then giving into the temptation, only to quickly be reminded what a bad idea this was as soon as he heard me entering the room.

Silly Scrubby!