Mocha the Menace

It's been nearly a year since I've even thought about posting to this blog. Just goes to show you how time flies when life gets a bit crazy. Among other things I've been spending a good chunk of brain power trying to figure out how to keep our new puppy Mocha from destroying our house and yard.

She's part border collie. Part crazy.

Since joining us a few months ago Mocha's peed on every throw rug in the house, dug countless trenches under the fence so she can go "visit" the neighbors dogs and has eaten anything she can swipe when we're not looking: a 5-pound bag of jelly beans, donuts fresh out of the oven and a pair of 2-hundred dollar headphones.

Our other border collie mix, Roxy, was also a handful when she was little but Mocha seems even more determined to cause trouble.

Thank goodness Mocha's so cute and brings it down several notches at night or she just might not be 

 here one morning!

"What did I do?"

Roxy just minutes after she returned from god knows where. During our morning walk she spotted a fox and bolted towards the woods. In a split second she dragged me down a hill and up another before leaving me in the dust. I don't even remember letting go of the leash but thank goodness I did or I might be typing this with one hand.   Nursing several scratches and bruises including one the size and color of a purple eggplant on my bum. I did find Roxy three hours later at the edge of a field - smelly and exhausted but she didn't have a piece of fur out of place. My guess is she either lost the fox in the woods or she had an early dinner.

Meet Roxy

At  twelve-weeks-old Roxy looked sweet and innocent...

HA! After just a few days in the house we realized just how dumb our previous dogs were compared to Roxy.Border Collies aren’t like other pooches. Even a rescue mix like Roxy will outsmart you over and over again.

Before she turned one Roxy left teeth marks in every slipcover in the house.  Demolished two rugs. Ate a corner of the family room couch. Gobbled up five dog beds.  And shredded a dozen tennis balls. PLUS, she chewed part of our back porch railing and the siding on the garage. WTF! Somehow, doing the damage when our backs were turned. She's as sneaky as can be, quietly coming  up behind you and poking you with her wet nose, trying to push you to go where she wants to go (something Border Collies do when they are herding sheep).

I’ve had dogs since I was a kid and know how to raise them but jeez, this dog was a royal pain.  Our old dogs Crash and Thor did little damage when they were puppies. Sure, Crash ate a plate of chocolate chip cookies, but she survived. And yep, Thor flooded the kitchen with pee most days but that’s it.  Roxy was like a hungry two-year-old loose in a candy store.. How they heck were we going to reign in this bad girl? Slowly but surely, after countless walks, hours of training and trips to the Pet Smart toy isle Roxy started to calm down a bit. And now at two-and-a-half years later Roxy’s finally shaped up and settled in..  

My daughter’s head over heels in love with her – and so am I.

 I can’t bear to think of life without Roxy some day. Sure, she still bounces off the walls at times chasing down tennis balls, decapitates rabbits in the backyard and keeps bringing her snack toy to you until you give in and fill it up with peanut butter.

But Roxy no longer eats the house or runs it.  She’s turning out to be the best dog ever – sweet, loving and smart as a fox.