Why Do Dogs Chew Shoes?

It's a well known fact that dogs like to chew shoes.

Usually the culprit is a puppy and their owners train them not to chew shoes by providing them with appropriate things to chew.

But some dogs never outgrow the need to chew things they shouldn't.

And if they chew shoes, inevitably the more expensive the shoe, the more tempting it is to the dog.

The dogs in the pictures above are destroying Christian Louboutin shoes. These are especially pricey pumps in the $1,500 to $7,000 range.

But there are some (relatively) less expensive shoes I have seen that practically beg to be chewed by a dog.

Like these sandals. ($440)

They immediately made me think of a rawhide chew bone.

They are also available in a pump for $520.

Or these, available in either a flat ($695) or a heel ($995).

The resemblance is striking, don't you agree?

Here they are on. Add some stinky foot odor and what dog could resist?

Maybe what they really need is a diversion. This is a device for dogs called the "Hotdoll".

You can read more about it here:

http://idealist.blinkr.net/hotdoll/

Suddenly chewing shoes seems like a less offensive pastime!

Well, maybe.

I Hurt My Back

From the "No good deed goes unpunished" department:

Yesterday I spayed a dog. I was led to believe it belonged to someone that I know and it weighed about "20 pounds".

But when I got the dog, I found out it did not belong to this person at all but her son. And it weighed more like 50 pounds. (This is not the actual dog.)

Great. Just how I like to spend my precious free time, doing favors for perfect strangers. It wasn't the dog's fault. She was very sweet and her spay was easy. When we dropped the dog off later that evening the owner was there to meet us in my office parking lot. (I thought it best not to let him know where we live.)

He was driving an old Mustang with only primer on it.

He had a dull, far-away look on his face as he listened to my instructions on how to care for the dog after her surgery.

I picked up the dog to put her into the kennel in the back seat. Her owner did not offer to help but stood by idly, mouth breathing.

I must have lifted incorrectly because today my back is killing me.

It wouldn't have been so bad if he had said, "Thank you".

Instead, he said, "'Preciate it" and drove off in his turd wagon.

I went home to check the tattoo on my forehead. I thought it might have faded since the last time but it had not.

Today my back became more and more painful as the day went on.

Thank goodness for muscle relaxants and Aleve.

I may have finally learned my lesson.

Or not.

Andrew Wyeth

Daydream

(1980)

Andrew Wyeth was a prodigious painter.  He is very well known for the many naked portraits of his neighbor "Helga" that he painted between 1971 and 1985 without his wife or her husband knowing about them.   When he shared the collection with his wife in 1986 I wonder what she said.

I like Wyeth's paintings with dogs in them. Everyone in the world owns a copy of this one, it seems, but it's still nice.  Even when you see it on the wall at Cracker Barrel.

Master Bedroom 

(1965)

Last year we bought a signed collotype of the picture below.  Supposedly it is a limited edition of 300.  I think it might be my retirement since my 401k is now a 101k. Hmmm.  I wonder why ours is numbered 785. 

Night Sleeper

(1979)

This one has a sort of furtive look to it.  

Wild Dog 

 (1959)

Supposedly these were Wyeth's neighbor's dogs.

Raccoon

(1958)

Putting fleas in the bed for the owner.

Southern Comfort

(1987)

Ditto.

Harlequin

(1966)

Faithful dog guards dead master.

Distant Thunder

(1961)

This dog is Wyeth's yellow lab "Rattler".

Ides of March

(1974)

After the chase of Helga?

After the Chase

(1961)

This one reminds me of rivers in Georgia where we caught snakes.

The Intruder

(1971)

I had an artist who does exquisite miniatures paint me copies of these dog works in 1:12 scale.   My elves have a really good art collection in their house of ill repute now, thanks to Paul Saltarelli.

Only doing celestial commission work as of 1/16/2009.