Well ? she had completely ripped up my hall carpet and underlay and rolled it back to the middle of the hall but before doing that she had dug holes in it. Other than that, nothing, except that all the doors were shut and she was nowhere to be seen. I looked in the kitchen and even outside although I knew she wouldn?t be out there. Panicking I checked the bolt on my bedroom door just to make sure Max was ok ? it was then that I heard whining coming from my daughters bedroom. Hippie had managed to get in even with the string in place but she couldn?t get out. I could have wept – it has taken five years to get this bungalow the way we wanted it and in less than a week this dog had destroyed it.
My partner arrived soon after with the indoor kennel ? a big cage that filled half the floor space in my kitchen and Hippie seemed quite interested thank goodness. The only problem I could see was what to put on the plastic base of the cage knowing how she didn?t care about soiling in my house. I chose a couple of old fleece blankets, we laid them inside and Hippie walked in and lay down. A small success in a house that in my daughter?s words had just been trashed.
The next morning after her walk Hippie was left in the cage with my partner due to come in at lunchtime to check on her. He came bringing her a nice soft expensive dog bed as he thought she would be more comfortable. But the smell as he walked through the door suggested the shire horse had been at it again. At least it was in the cage.
He cleaned the cage out, walked her and left her with her new bed. When I got home she had urinated on the bed and then ripped it to pieces ? this was turning into another nightmare.
I spoke to a work colleague who rescues all sorts of dogs and she recommended some herbal drops to put on Hippie?s food. Simply called ?Anxiety? they are supposed to calm the dog and stop some of the destruction. At £9-99p for a tiny little bottle, let me assure you that these drops are precious and I am not convinced that they work. However we did try them I think we would have tried anything to help Hippie through this time.
I decided if she couldn?t be clean she would just have newspaper to lie on and that is exactly what we did the next day. By lunchtime she had shredded the paper but was clean so she was put back in with the shredded stuff. This went on all week, we put fresh paper in and she shredded it. I bought puzzle toys to keep her occupied and stuffed them with biscuits ? she either ate the toy or got frustrated when she couldn?t eat the toy. She also ripped up the stuffed toys that had been bought for her. My daughter and I had some long chats about whether we should keep her or whether it would be fairer on all of us if we sent her back. After a lot of heart searching we decided to persevere and as I had some time off ? I said I would use that time to try and settle her down.
