Buh Bye Reggie

Reggie has stayed with us four times, with the first time being exactly two years ago. He is 6 years old and his bad behavior has not changed any. 

He whines constantly; when he has to go out, wants a walk, treats/food/water, wants whatever is on our plate, and when he's blocked from any room we're in, which is all of them. 

Walking is just not fun at all. It takes both Faith and I to wrestle his gentle lead on. The constant yanking and weaving leaves my back and arms sore (I won't let Faith or Tony walk him). Heaven forbid if he sees a squirrel/dog; I get all tangled up in the leash. I am too old for this. His dad walks him twice a day and he's 70 now; I don't know how he does it.

We occasionally use a baby gate with dogs to keep them out of the bedrooms, but he needs 3 throughout the house! He wants to go everywhere we go which is fine but he gets into every. single. thing. This week he followed us downstairs where he went into my room and took my earplugs off my nightstand and ran back upstairs. I got one away from him and he ate the other one; which came up after he ate dinner. 

He doesn't play much with toys which makes it hard to keep him busy. Last visit I took him out to the yard to run around which got him overly excited and he bit my arm. I got a bruise and it was even through my coat. Just a small amount of horsing around causes him to bite my feet! The word NO is not in his vocabulary.

Our next three dogs will be older and brand new to our home. One is a marker so he'll probably be in a belly band most of the time. But still I think all of them combined will be easier than Reggie.

The other night he got into a bedroom closet where I keep extra toys (he knew that) and pulled them all out. He didn't even want to play with them, he just likes to hunt. It was kind of funny so I let him have at it. Got me to straighten out the closet anyway.

This is how I like him best!

When his parents picked him up I had to tell them that we can no longer watch him. They were very understanding and although I just told her about the walking issues it was enough to get my point across. Then she had to go and give me a thank you card with their first tip to us for $50. It made me feel worse than I already did but it had to be done. He is a charming and very smart boy; but I feel they have failed him with the lack of proper training.