On this Mischief Monday, I’m going to confess that I’ve been the mischievous one lately. Last week I talked about Sadie’s Not So Temporary Obsession with her mini squeaky basketball. Well the obsession continues (day 7 if you’re counting) and instead of letting it drive me crazy, it’s driving me toward mischief. I was tired of Sadie constantly knocking the ball under furniture or into hard to reach areas, so I decided to create some distractions.

First I put Sadie’s ball into an empty tissue box and sat back to watch her attempt to retrieve it. But that was far too easy, and Sadie was back to knocking the ball under the furniture again in no time. So next I put the ball in the far corner of her dog crate. She avoids going in there as much as possible, so it was funny to see her trying to stretch her body out as far as it could go to reach the ball without actually going inside.

But eventually she got the ball back and the cycle started once more. So then I noticed the empty laundry basket. I placed Sadie and her ball into the basket, enabling her to squeak to her heart’s content without being able to send the ball under the furniture. And it worked perfectly for quite a while. I even put one of her dog beds in the basket so that she could lay down comfortably while squeaking.

Eventually that became too boring for Sadie and she discovered that if she dropped the ball over the side of the basket and cried, I would come running and hand it back to her. After playing that game with her a few times, I gave up on the laundry basket and looked around for a new idea. While in the kitchen I realized that the ball would sink nicely into an oven mitt and Sadie probably wouldn’t do too much damage to the mitt.

This one was the most difficult for Sadie and she soon became frustrated with the oven mitt. She kept trying to put her head inside to grab the ball, but she could never quite reach it. Eventually she discovered that if she picked up the mitt and shook it, the ball would fall out. Lastly I took one of Sadie’s toy bins, emptied it out, and overturned it on top of the ball. She seemed to enjoying pushing it around and scratching at it, until she eventually tipped it up and got the ball out.

At this point I ran out of the more creative ideas and just started hiding the ball around the house; always in different rooms, but always in places she could safely reach. That gave me some nice long relaxing periods of time while Sadie searched for the ball, without the constant squeaking and furniture interruptions.

This post is part of the Monday Mischief Pet Blog Hop.

Four nights ago I gave Sadie a new toy. Just a little squeaky rubber ball, not much different from various others she has. But this one is a miniature basketball, so it has that bumpy texture. Whether it’s the texture, or some other reason, as soon as I gave Sadie that ball, she became obsessed with it. Normally when I give Sadie a new toy, she plays with it excitedly for ten or fifteen minutes, and then either breaks the toy or gets bored. But not this time. This time she cannot get enough of her mini squeaky basketball.
That first night she was squeaking it obsessively for over four hours, only breaking when she convinced me to throw the ball for her. She didn’t even mind me taking pictures of her during our game of catch. Normally she blinks or turns away when the focus light flashes on the camera, but that night she didn’t want to take her eyes off the ball.

For the first two hours I thought her obsession was pretty cute. I was glad she was enjoying her new toy. But four hours went by and the squeaking continued. Then I wanted to go to bed, but the squeaking continued. Once I was in bed and stopped paying any attention to Sadie, she devised a new way to keep me playing. I did not appreciate her new game. She would squeak the ball a few times, and then hit it with her paw, purposely directing it under the couch. Now she knows I won’t let her get things that fall under the couch, because I’m terrified her head will get stuck. So I’m forced to get out of bed and go rescue the ball, or I’ll have nightmares of her head stuck under the couch all night. She did this twice before I decided to lock her in the bedroom with me.

So then she was trapped in the bedroom with me and she still wouldn’t settle down and leave the ball alone for the night. She came up on the bed, squeaked the ball a few times, then dropped it off the side of the bed. Then she whined and looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to retrieve the ball for her. When I got the ball for her, she jumped back on the bed and repeated the process. Eventually I refused to get the ball, and when she jumped off to get it herself, I took away her doggy stairs so she couldn’t come up on the bed and do it again. But Sadie wouldn’t let that stop her fun. She began to squeak the toy incessantly again, until she knocked it under the dresser. Then I had to get up and get it for her because, just like the couch, I’d have nightmares of her little head getting stuck under there. Immediately I blocked the dresser with some cardboard so the ball couldn’t get under there again. But five minutes later Sadie was crying again. She’d managed to move the cardboard over enough to get her ball to sneak past and roll under the dresser. By that point birds were chirping and the sky was beginning to lighten, so I needed to put an end to the craziness for good. I felt bad, but I took the ball away and hid it. By the time I fell asleep, Sadie was still crying and searching the house for her beloved ball.

Now it’s four days later and the obsession continues. I give her the ball every morning, and then have to take it away when I’m ready for bed at night. I’m glad that she’s having so much fun and getting good exercise running after the ball all day, but she still insists on purposely directing the ball under any nearby piece of furniture. I’ve tried various methods of barricading the furniture, but so far she keeps finding holes in my defenses. If this continues much longer I’m going to need a better plan…

This post is part of the Thursday Barks and Bytes blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like A Dog.
This post is also part of the Thoughtless Thursday blog hop brought to you by Ruckus the Eskie and Love is Being Owned By a Husky.