The post On the Twelfth Fail of Christmas<\/a> by Ellyce Rothrock<\/a> appeared first on Dogster<\/a>. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren’t considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.<\/p>\n My German Shepherds, Fritz and Mina, love the holidays. While they\u2019re very intuitive and sensitive, absorbing and reflecting the extra gaiety and joy of the season, they also have been known to land on Santa\u2019s \u201cnaughty list.\u201d Here are some of my dogs\u2019 Christmas capers \u2014 and some shared by friends, neighbors and family \u2014 that might sound all too familiar.<\/p>\n When my first German Shepherd, Greta, was an 18-month-old monster \u2014 er, I mean puppy \u2014 she discovered and ate 23 days\u2019 worth of advent chocolate from two advent calendars. No dashing through the snow on a sleigh for her that night but rather a quick dash to the vet in the pouring rain.<\/p>\n My childhood dogs, Smokie and Laddie, were a canine Abbott and Costello duo. The first year my family bought matching holiday sweaters sporting a very cute snowman was also the last. The morning after their first wear we discovered the last tear. Laddie had pulled Smokie\u2019s sweater off of him and ripped it to shreds before doing the same to his own \u2014 the proof of the guilty party was in the poop.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a three-panel meme familiar to Shepherd owners: Panel one shows an adorable puppy, panel two shows a scary velociraptor and panel three shows a calm, adult dog. My girl Mina was the embodiment of this when she was a terrible teenager. During her first Christmas with us, she ate all the fabric ornaments off the bottom third of the Christmas tree.<\/p>\n During their first Hanukkah in our neighborhood, Emily and Joshua\u2019s bouncing baby Boxer named Chad, who is now a subdued mature adult, ate six of nine menorah candles that all happened to be different colors. It all came out OK in the end, though.<\/p>\n Girlfriend Mary\u2019s Doberman Pinscher hated the blowup snowman in her front yard. Haaated it. Barked and growled at it constantly. After one fateful trip to the grocery store when she was unloading bags from her car and through the front door, Charger blasted past her, tackled the snowman and flat-out killed that sucker. Salvage was not an option.<\/p>\n Teddy, owned by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, was a big, sweet pushover with a passion for grand theft food. One Christmas Eve, while guests were chatting in the dining room, she stealthily stole an entire huge roast beef from a serving platter in the kitchen, cuddled up to it underneath the coffee table and proceeded to consume it all.<\/p>\n My Aunt Marlene\u2019s terrier, Sam, was grumpy. He just was. Even after eating an entire plate of holiday cookies meant for Santa. But this furry grinch\u2019s plan to foil Christmas failed \u2026 it still came, of course.<\/p>\n My friend Melissa loves to tell the tale about how her pup Tampa Bay pooped on her mother\u2019s white carpet in front of the hors d’ oeuvres. Grandma wasn\u2019t run over by a reindeer, but she sure was bowled over by this party foul.<\/p>\n You knew this one was coming. How many dogs have done this?! We all know one. My brother\u2019s dog, Ted the Bernese Mountain Dog, just couldn\u2019t wait for Christmas morning the year he came to live with my older sibling. Ted promptly ripped to shreds every scrap of wrapping paper adorning at least a dozen packages that had just been placed under the Christmas tree at approximately 10 p.m.<\/p>\n Finn, another friend\u2019s Australian Shepherd, wanted to get up close and personal to the cast of characters, human and animal, in his family\u2019s nativity scene, and herd them all \u2014 right off the living room shelf and straight into his mouth. Sadly, not one survived, as each piece was carefully chewed beyond recognition.<\/p>\n I can understand a dog\u2019s attraction to illuminated Christmas or Hanukkah lights. They\u2019re bright, sparkly and mesmerizing. So attractive, in fact, that they must be delicious. Enter Hank, my cousin\u2019s Irish Setter, who was not known for his smarts. My cousin takes her sweet time decorating two trees in her house, and sometimes stuff that hasn\u2019t found its place on the trees is left out for the next day. One Christmas, Hank must have been feeling bored and hungry, because he ate or destroyed most of a roll of unplugged white lights.<\/p>\n I\u2019m no fan of the Elf on the Shelf phenomenon, and neither is Jasper, a friend\u2019s Great Dane. To Jasper, this elf is nothing more than a creepy interloper who has no place in his mom\u2019s home. Sometime after my friend carefully strategized and arranged the elf for the first time for her kids to discover the next morning and went to bed, Jasper gingerly took the offending elf from an intricate display and beheaded him. He didn\u2019t consume any part of it \u2026 just separated the elf\u2019s head from its body and left both pieces outside my friend\u2019s bedroom door to let her know in no uncertain terms what he thought of this \u201cthing.\u201d<\/p>\n Do you have a holiday fail story about your dog? Please let us know at dogstermag@belvoir.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post On the Twelfth Fail of Christmas<\/a> by Ellyce Rothrock<\/a> appeared first on Dogster<\/a>. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren’t considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n The post On the Twelfth Fail of Christmas<\/a> by Ellyce Rothrock<\/a> appeared first on Dogster<\/a>. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren’t considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.<\/p>\n My German Shepherds, Fritz and Mina, love the holidays. While they\u2019re very intuitive and sensitive, absorbing and reflecting the extra gaiety and joy of the season, they also have been known to land on Santa\u2019s \u201cnaughty list.\u201d Here are some of my dogs\u2019 Christmas capers \u2014 and some shared by friends, neighbors and family \u2014 that might sound all too familiar.<\/p>\n When my first German Shepherd, Greta, was an 18-month-old monster \u2014 er, I mean puppy \u2014 she discovered and ate 23 days\u2019 worth of advent chocolate from two advent calendars. No dashing through the snow on a sleigh for her that night but rather a quick dash to the vet in the pouring rain.<\/p>\n My childhood dogs, Smokie and Laddie, were a canine Abbott and Costello duo. The first year my family bought matching holiday sweaters sporting a very cute snowman was also the last. The morning after their first wear we discovered the last tear. Laddie had pulled Smokie\u2019s sweater off of him and ripped it to shreds before doing the same to his own \u2014 the proof of the guilty party was in the poop.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a three-panel meme familiar to Shepherd owners: Panel one shows an adorable puppy, panel two shows a scary velociraptor and panel three shows a calm, adult dog. My girl Mina was the embodiment of this when she was a terrible teenager. During her first Christmas with us, she ate all the fabric ornaments off the bottom third of the Christmas tree.<\/p>\n During their first Hanukkah in our neighborhood, Emily and Joshua\u2019s bouncing baby Boxer named Chad, who is now a subdued mature adult, ate six of nine menorah candles that all happened to be different colors. It all came out OK in the end, though.<\/p>\n Girlfriend Mary\u2019s Doberman Pinscher hated the blowup snowman in her front yard. Haaated it. Barked and growled at it constantly. After one fateful trip to the grocery store when she was unloading bags from her car and through the front door, Charger blasted past her, tackled the snowman and flat-out killed that sucker. Salvage was not an option.<\/p>\n Teddy, owned by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, was a big, sweet pushover with a passion for grand theft food. One Christmas Eve, while guests were chatting in the dining room, she stealthily stole an entire huge roast beef from a serving platter in the kitchen, cuddled up to it underneath the coffee table and proceeded to consume it all.<\/p>\n My Aunt Marlene\u2019s terrier, Sam, was grumpy. He just was. Even after eating an entire plate of holiday cookies meant for Santa. But this furry grinch\u2019s plan to foil Christmas failed \u2026 it still came, of course.<\/p>\n My friend Melissa loves to tell the tale about how her pup Tampa Bay pooped on her mother\u2019s white carpet in front of the hors d’ oeuvres. Grandma wasn\u2019t run over by a reindeer, but she sure was bowled over by this party foul.<\/p>\n You knew this one was coming. How many dogs have done this?! We all know one. My brother\u2019s dog, Ted the Bernese Mountain Dog, just couldn\u2019t wait for Christmas morning the year he came to live with my older sibling. Ted promptly ripped to shreds every scrap of wrapping paper adorning at least a dozen packages that had just been placed under the Christmas tree at approximately 10 p.m.<\/p>\n Finn, another friend\u2019s Australian Shepherd, wanted to get up close and personal to the cast of characters, human and animal, in his family\u2019s nativity scene, and herd them all \u2014 right off the living room shelf and straight into his mouth. Sadly, not one survived, as each piece was carefully chewed beyond recognition.<\/p>\n I can understand a dog\u2019s attraction to illuminated Christmas or Hanukkah lights. They\u2019re bright, sparkly and mesmerizing. So attractive, in fact, that they must be delicious. Enter Hank, my cousin\u2019s Irish Setter, who was not known for his smarts. My cousin takes her sweet time decorating two trees in her house, and sometimes stuff that hasn\u2019t found its place on the trees is left out for the next day. One Christmas, Hank must have been feeling bored and hungry, because he ate or destroyed most of a roll of unplugged white lights.<\/p>\n I\u2019m no fan of the Elf on the Shelf phenomenon, and neither is Jasper, a friend\u2019s Great Dane. To Jasper, this elf is nothing more than a creepy interloper who has no place in his mom\u2019s home. Sometime after my friend carefully strategized and arranged the elf for the first time for her kids to discover the next morning and went to bed, Jasper gingerly took the offending elf from an intricate display and beheaded him. He didn\u2019t consume any part of it \u2026 just separated the elf\u2019s head from its body and left both pieces outside my friend\u2019s bedroom door to let her know in no uncertain terms what he thought of this \u201cthing.\u201d<\/p>\n Do you have a holiday fail story about your dog? Please let us know at dogstermag@belvoir.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post On the Twelfth Fail of Christmas<\/a> by Ellyce Rothrock<\/a> appeared first on Dogster<\/a>. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren’t considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Countdown to a vet visit<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Holiday attire optional<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Tree ornaments = treats<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Rainbow Hanukkah<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Snowman\u2019s gotta go<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Roast beast binge<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Stealing Santa\u2019s cookies<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Potty party foul<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
All gifts were for me!<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
But I wanted to shepherd the sheep<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Lights looked like candy<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
No-elf zone<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Countdown to a vet visit<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Holiday attire optional<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Tree ornaments = treats<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Rainbow Hanukkah<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Snowman\u2019s gotta go<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Roast beast binge<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Stealing Santa\u2019s cookies<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Potty party foul<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
All gifts were for me!<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
But I wanted to shepherd the sheep<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
Lights looked like candy<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
No-elf zone<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n