So Embarrassed :(((

Fair warning, this is a tough post for me to write, so it isn't my most understandable writing. Sorry about that.

So my Brutus was very very naughty, and I could absolutely die from embarrassment. You know how parents take what their children do personally? Well, I take what my pets do personally too. There is the semi-sane part of me that knows that we are still, well probably, more toward the beginning of our training with Brutus than toward the end, but I got too comfortable, and he caused some damage to my friends house. Now I am mortified.

This apparently took place on the day that Brutus ran away after the deer. Here I was looking for him all over in the woods and corn field, and apparently, for at least some of that time, he was behind our friends Gary and Pam's house tearing up their down spout on their gutter to get after a chipmunk. And, of course, it couldn't just be any old generic down spout, it's a custom made down spout. The worst part?? Well, seriously not the worst part, but one of the things I feel really bad about, is that they didn't even call me to tell me. I found out in a round about way when I had called Pam to just chat. I was already having not the greatest day, and after I heard about that I threw up and went to bed. I felt so bad. Brutus is our dog, not theirs, and he is completely our responsibility. I had gotten comfortable walking him off leash, other than the now and then encounters with the neighborhood deer, and I guess I should have known better. Like I had said in my post that day that he ran away, it was his last off leash day for the year. It's one thing if he's in the yard with us, because he doesn't have the loose temptations to go after, and frankly, we don't give a crap about our downspout. I'm looking very forward to replacing them!

So parents, this is what you do when your child hurts something that isn't theirs. You apologize profusely, and offer to pay for all damages. When your lovely neighbors say "absolutely not", you tell them that they are being ridiculous, and pay for the damages anyway. I feel so bad that I feel like I should even do the footwork to get new ones ordered for them.

When my kids were growing up, I got really tired of being told how naughty my kids were (mostly Andrew, sorry buddy) because the parents telling me had children that were perfectly capable of being naughty too, but I just didn't have it in me to tell them. There were times when I should have, but I didn't. Frankly, I doubt they would have believed me anyway. I always believed them, and I always felt sick. Maybe the world would be a little better place if parents felt that pit in their stomach, and made their kids take some responsibility for their actions. Obviously, I can't really make Brutus get a job to pay for this damage, but he will no longer go visiting to their house, and he will be walking on his leash.

Big embarrassed sad face inserted here. Ugh. :((