Teenage Blues

At 8 months old, Azuki has probably reached the human equivalent of her teenage years. According to experts, this stage in the dog development are the most trying times, because they begin to test owners' authority, express their independence, and become generally major pains in the butt. I have to agree with all of that.

Azuki is not allowed on furniture, because we want her to know that she is a dog and therefore her ranking is below the humans in the household. She has followed this rule very well, and only dares to thump her front legs on the sofa or the bed to get our attention. When she wants a petting or an ear scratch, she will also nudge her furry head into your lap or palm, acting too adorable to resist, and will usually end of getting some enthusiastic "awwww....look how cute she is acting!" from us.

But we knew that even at a very young age she was able to jump onto the couch with relative ease with those long, crab-like legs of hers. First time such suspicion arose was when she was only 5 months old, and we had placed a bowl of food and biscuts on top of her cage for training, which is next to the couch. When we came out of the shower one night, we found Azuki to be acting totally normal, except THE BOWL OF FOOD WAS GONE. I mean, there was not a morsel of evidence left in the bowl--it had been licked clean (this is after dinner, by the way, so she couldn't even have been that hungry) But since we had never seen her do it, and never even seen her get up on the couch before, we couldn't prove it. But it was one of those things, like, who else could have done it?

Then, once while she was in super puppy play mode and ripping around chasing after her toys, she jumped onto the couch out of excitement. I let out a loud noise, clapped my hand, and said OFF!!!! in my most authoritative tone. She looked sincerely surprised and sorry, and hopped off right away. She didn't climb onto the couch again for the next few months.

Until now.

Last night, I went to bed early and Matt stayed up to watch the World Cup on TV. When he went to take a shower, I could hear commotions in the livingroom and MAJOR CHUMPING going on from Azuki--CHUMP CHUMP CHUMP was totally audible even from the bedroom with a closed door. She will chew her rawhides or bones a little bit, but she only reserves that type of chewing intensity for her pig ears or achilles tendon, which she gets a few times a week. But since I had already given her a pig ear that morning, I was confused as to what she was doing.

I came out of the bathroom, and found the pup chewing on, none other than another piece of pig ear.

"Did you give her another pig ear?? She already got one this morning."
"No I didn't! But take a look at this!!!!" Matt said, pointing out the doggie sweater that was laying on the cage but now laying on the couch.

What we pieced together was that Azuki must have hopped onto the couch, then onto the cage, and then digged through her doggie bag where I place her goodies, gotten the pig ear, hopped off and then proceeded to chew LIKE SHE DIDN'T JUST BREAK THE MOST IMPORTANT CANINE/HUMAN RELATIONSHIP RULE IN THE HOUSE.

I must admit we were surprised, but we were also kind of amused, in a "Look how smart our dog is!" kind of way.

Unfortunately, Azuki has learned that it is SO MUCH FUN to climb onto the couch, that it was all she did this morning while I was still in bed. I could hear her taking off across the room, her paws piter-paterring the whole way on the hardwood floor, gathering momentum, and then the loud THUD! when she lands on the couch. I had to resort to removing all objects from on top of her cage so she wouldn't get to them.

I thought this was just going to be a behind our backs kind of thing, but then she pulled the trick in front of me after I got up, in what I assume is probably her attempt to defy authority, challenge my leadership, stating her independence...or, perhaps she just thought it would be REALLY COOL to hop on the couch. Of course, I let out another loud OFF! command, and then took her off the couch. Just to make sure she knows what she did was wrong, I gave her a brief 3 minute time-out in her cage. She didn't protest at all, and when she came out, she acted very submissive, totally calm, laying down and peering up at me, wondering if I was still mad at her.

Above I have provided a picture of the couch and the cage, so you can have an idea of how this happened. See there is not nothing on top of the cage (I used to use it as counter top space to store all her toys, rawhides, and snacks).

I hate teenagers.