SAMMIE THE SNORKIE-SHOE FETISH

Hello Everyone

Sammie The Snorkie has been with us now for almost 3 months. It has been a learning experience for both of us, me more than her. :-)

My Snorkie has started something new lately, she has a fascination for my shoes. Not just my shoes, but my Nike's and slippers as well.

Now, that doesn't sound like it would be too much of a big deal, but putting on a slipper wet with dog spit isn't a good feeling. Either is finding your shoe in Sammie's water bowl, toilet bowl or stashed between her toys and blanket in her bed.

I think she feels that she has to have a part of me with her. And, I've noticed, she is also pretty sneaky about it.

Sammie's favorite is the "walk by". When she goes outside through the pet door, she'll grab a shoe on her way out without even looking back. 
 

When Sammie is feeling really impish that day she has two other forms of thievery.

The first is the "run by", where she snags a shoe on the fly, races out to the yard and promptly drops it next to where she pees. Of course, when that happens my shoes only make a one-way trip.

And, last but not least, we have "the sneaky". In this shoe heist, she uses the bait and switch method. Sammie will pick up my shoe and wait at the door to see if I'm  looking.

When I get there, she graciously gives up the shoe. As I open the door, she does this fancy footwork thing where she gets the other shoe to the one I am holding in my hand, runs like a bat out of hell through the pet door to the farthest corner of the yard and drops it.

I was truly getting frustrated about this and wondered what I could do to stop all of Sammie's shoe thievery. So I began putting my shoes out of reach. It is a little of an inconvenience, but now I have dry shoes and I know where they're at.

Now that I'm better at keeping shoes out of reach, my sweet Snorkie has found my husband's socks to be fun substitutes. (His size 12 boots are just too difficult for Sam to run with.)

Yesterday my hubby and I went out to the deck to catch up on each others activities for that day. "What is my sock doing out in the yard?" he asked. "Don't you care about my stuff?"

Without explaining how I was fooled by the "bait and switch" routine, I just told him he should be grateful for the 7 socks I'd saved.

What brings me to another story about my dog thief.

I woke up this morning and brought my coffee onto the back deck to enjoy the piece and quiet of the morning.

Just before I settled in my chair, I noticed my husband's underwear on the deck outside our bedroom door. A very uncomfortable feeling rushed though my head for wondering why on earth my spouse would disrobe outside. . . until I remembered Sammie had recently discovered the clothes hamper.