The Downside Of Having Pets

I love my pets and I have more than my share. But there is a downside to a house full of critters. The other day I got to thinking I'd present some of them in photos. I'll present the upside tomorrow.

Let's begin with mischievous puppies. I have two of them and crate them when I leave the house. One of the crates is held together with plastic locking pins:

But every time I'd turn my back, work at the computer, go to the bathroom, I'd discover the pins missing. One must twist them 90 degrees and lift them straight up through two layers of plastic to remove them. But the Papillon puppies were smart enough to master that trick and and removed all the pins in mere seconds:

They'd leave the pins scattered around the rug. Finally, I covered the pins with duct tape and placed the dog crate behind other things so they couldn't reach it:

Then, of course, there's pee stains on the carpet:

And you-know-what on the carpet:

My cats began this fun hobby of ripping plaster off the walls, but it has since been taken over by the dogs. First Seamus, and now the puppies. When I go upstairs to care for the birds, I now crate both puppies to prevent them from denuding my walls and covering my stairs with crumbled plaster while I'm locked in the room with the birds:

Another fun hobby which the cats began but now is the province of the dogs: carpet shredding. This is especially fun for two Papillon puppies:

In this photo Daphne is saying, "Who me? No, I would never chew your rocking chair. It must have been Clover who did it:"

And then there's the coat tree. The cats sharpened their claws on the upright and the dogs chewed the leg braces. And don't miss that lovely barf stain on the rug. You can see why I must clean the house every day:

Railing posts are fun to chew when a puppy tires of ripping down plaster:

And bed foot-boards make an amusing diversion for long nights when a puppy is not getting enough attention. Tomorrow I'll present some of the upsides of pet ownership: