Partners in Crime... and Emergency Averted!

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Oh, the joys of having 2 doodles!  Never a dull moment... I love a happy ending, and this story has a happy ending.

A few nights ago the doods were upstairs on the landing, lying side by side on their haunches, each with an antler. My DH was upstairs and I heard him come out of the bedroom, where he'd been watching TV, to check on the dogs. He remarked how good they both were! A little later, I stepped out of the study and glanced upstairs, and I saw 2 heads, side by side, peeking through the landing banisters, and I could not get over how cute they looked. My 2 rarely lie together, and if I'd really given it a lot of thought, instead of being overwhelmed by the cuteness of it, I would have realized it was a red flag... and would have gone to investigate. But, it didn't occur to me, and I didn't go.

Fast forward a few hours. Oscar was asleep in his crate downstairs, Lucy upstairs with us (Oscar hasn't yet graduated to that privilege). Lucy came to me,  with a sock in her mouth, wanting to play 'keep away' with me. I got it from her (she was adamant on keeping it!), and wondered where on earth she could have gotten a sock. Then I saw it, my sock drawer (the bottom of a chest of drawers) was open just a few inches. Not enough to get a muzzle or mouth inside, but enough to get a paw in. That's when I knew our clever Lucy had once again gotten into something that I would never have suspected she could. I didn't think twice about the sock, until the next day.

It was a black nylon ladies dress type sock, about shin length. The nagging question in the back of my mind told me to look for the other sock. By the time I got to looking for it, 18 hrs had passed. I emptied my sock drawer, and even looked through all the other drawers, trying to find the matching sock. I couldn't find it. That's when I knew Oscar had eaten it. Lucy had gotten it out of the drawer earlier in the evening, and Oscar had swallowed it. I know Lucy and she does not eat inedible objects. She never has. She'll chew on them and destroy them, but she won't eat them. Oscar, on the other hand, will eat ANYTHING. The 2 of them lying so prettily on the landing was when it happened. I could see the scenario in my mind. Lucy digging the sock out of the drawer, and presenting it to Oscar... them playing tug of war with it for a brief time, and then Oscar deciding it was HIS and simply taking it from Lucy. There probably was a long period of time when he just chewed on the sock, and then... big GULP. Gone.

I did not call the vet. This is something we've dealt with recently once before, when Oscar ate a neoprene dog tag silencer. We didn't know he'd eaten it at the time, and when he needed intestinal obstruction surgery we were surprised when the vet told us what had caused it. This time we knew what it was, but already 18 hrs had passed, so I figured it was too late to induce vomiting or have it endoscopically removed. Usually, vets give a window of 8-10 hrs max to do any kind of recovery effort of swallowed objects in the stomach. We were just going to play a waiting game. Oscar seemed to be acting his regular self, until last night, when he seemed a little less active, and I noticed him sleeping in a tight ball. I recognized that pose from all the other times he's not felt well. He usually sleeps all sprawled out on his side or back. When he's in a tight curl, he's hurting. Still, he wasn't vomiting or exhibiting other signs of distress, so we just continued to wait. One of 3 things was going to happen. 1. The sock would come out the other end, 2. He would vomit up the sock, or 3. The sock would get stuck in his intestines and we'd have to rush to the ER vet hospital downtown. Well, I'm happy to report that this morning when I went to let Oscar out of his crate, I found he'd vomited up the sock (in it's entirety). Yay! Happy Day! Emergency averted! NOW, to keep those 2 from being partners in crime! Between Lucy, the clever, playful opportunist, and Oscar, the eat-anything-anytime-anywhere little stinker, I've got my hands full! We CAN NOT assume anything is safe from the pair of them... EVER! For the moment, both my husband and I are happy and very relieved, but we also know that we have to be on our game and always be aware and conscious of things that the doods could get to. We've got to always think about how clever Lucy can be, and even though Oscar may not think of something, Lucy could. And even though Lucy may not eat something, Oscar would.

But, right now, in this moment, I'm going to bask in beautiful relief!

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Happy to hear you story had a great ending!  I am so thankful that Beau does not swallow anything foreign.  However, if I leave my mouse out on my desk - he will get it off my desk, jump up on our bed and toss it up in the air!  I cannot seem to remember to put the darn thing in my desk drawer!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I am so glad this story had a happy ending. Fudge seems to direct Vern, too, and not always in good ways. LOL

[Julie and Charlie]

Oscar, you sneaky, naughty boy!

I do have a list of things that I "inventory" every day. Thankfully, it's all been more of a hide-and-seek game so far around here... all of my shoes are on top of the washing machine to prevent doodle theft.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am so glad that we had a happy ending to that tale.  I am very lucky that my dogs smoke chew but they don't inhale swallow.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Ricki and Tara - "Perfect Storm" indeed! Lol.

Karla - 2 doodles the same age - you are one BRAVE doodle owner! Funny about the walks.. my 2 love their walks too, but that day they hadn't gotten one due to wild weather. Any form of exercise makes a HUGE difference in the mischievous factor in our house!

Thanks everyone else for your comments!

[Karla Lamont]

Thank goodness all is well!!!!  We have 2 doodles, a male and female and I find their antics are similar to what you have told.  They are 10 months now and life continues to be an adventure. although they have settled down quite well.  I will say my female, Sophie. is the instigator most of the time!!!  My husband has turned them into real walking dogs!  They LOVE their walks and It gets rid of a lot of energy.

[Carol and Banjo]

Oh my!   I'm so glad this caper has a happy ending!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Whew! That was a close one. It sounds like you have the "Perfect Storm" brewing at your house with Lucy's cleverness and Oscars non discriminating palate! OMD ! So glad you had a happy ending this time!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Really glad all ended well :)

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Thanks everyone for your comments! It really was a wild ride those few days, wondering how it would end. Oscar is just this past week fully recovered from his intestinal obstruction surgery, including the intestinal upset caused by the antibiotics that took weeks to correct (in all, a total of 7 weeks). We did NOT want to go through that whole process again, and the only way I could deal with it was to have faith it would all be okay in the end. Then let it go. DH couldn't do that. He was worried sick and absolutely certain we'd end up at the animal ER.

Lonnie - Wow, I'm amazed Libby Lu has been through this so many times. You must have nerves of steel!

Pat - I think Lucy had every intention of getting the sock out of the drawer to play with Oscar. She didn't get it out to play with Tim, who was upstairs at the time (or with me, downstairs). That kind of a game to her is definitely an 'interactive' game... lol.

Jeanne - Good to hear Tura is like Lucy, and yes, it is too bad they can't figure out that eating socks can end in surgery. Just keeping the sock drawer CLOSED at all times would do the trick!

Traci-Bexter & Maggie - Hope the baby gate works...  SockEaters Anonymous... love it!

Sheila & Finnley - That's what I put on my DH's Father's Day card!  "Who knew a SOCK could make for such a Happy Father's Day?"! I told my daughter he received the BEST Father's Day gift EVER that morning.... a little black gift from Oscar!

DJ & Chance - It might be more than 'double trouble'. My 2 together is more like trouble multiplied exponentially!