Brutus's Very Big BAD Day!!

Today has not been a good day for Brutus, and therefore not a good day for me either. I can't tell if he's mad that his Dad isn't here, or that I forgot to bring with his favorite toy (really bad move) or if it's Sophie (the hide in the ceiling cat).

It started out with me walking in to the living room to notice that he had "marked" the side of my green love seat. At this point, I'm trying to decide if this is my fault for sleeping an hour too long, and it maybe looked like a nice big green shrub. I quickly put Brutus outside to go potty, and started cleaning. My carpet shampooer is in the cities, and all I could think to do was fill a bowl with hot sudsy water and run it through the fabric and let it drip through to an empty bowl. Then I squeeze dried it with towels. I was hoping that was the end of that.

I let Brutus in, and Sophie has been getting braver and standing on the kitchen center island chairs, and I noticed that every time I would go over and give her some love, Brutus would come over and head butt me. What is up with this?? I went in my bedroom to check my email, came back out to see Sophie sitting on the green love seat, and Brutus had marked it AGAIN! Now, this is not funny. Now we have two choices. This is a nice big green shrub, or he's pissed off at Sophie and marking his territory, which was technically hers first. I cleaned it up again after giving him a stern talking to and decided it was probably a good time for a walk.

We had a beautiful walk down the dirt road. It's a little over a mile down to our mail boxes, so we headed down there and back. He got to see lots of squirrels and smell a lot of deer tracks. There was one very uneducated chipmunk that decided to run across the road right in front of us. At that point I learned that Ugh boots are slippery even on dirt roads when you're being pulled by a sixty-five pound dog chasing a chippy. I got him back in control and on and went. It was gorgeous. I got back to the house with the certain feeling that things would be better. I went into my bedroom closet to grab my clothes before I showered, and Brutus brought me my favorite wool mitten, with a big chunk bitten out of it. He knew he had been naughty. When I looked at him and said "No Brutus, naughty", he laid down and put his paws over his eyes. Unbelievable.

So I get cleaned up, go out in the living room, and Brutus has peed on the side of the sofa AGAIN!!!! That is three times in less than five hours. I cleaned it up again, called Don to fuss and to tell him to put a move on it and bring the carpet shampooer, and decided that Brutus is having a bad day and will not be out of my sight for the rest of it, at least not until Don gets here. There is a reason that two parents are easier than one. I realize it isn't always possible, but in this case, I am SO glad that it's the way it is.