Fenny Chronicles - Teething

Teething: this is a phase all pet lovers dread. As much as you love your pet, you do wish they wouldn’t use your favorite blanket as a chew toy and make a hole right in the middle of it or bite your slippers beyond recognition, or chew on your books.

Fenny is a small dog. Unlike other Labradors she is not huge. She was the runt of the litter. She is the tinniest of her siblings. For a tiny dog she used to set herself huge goals. I had once caught her chewing my French notebook, but as I was right there to rescue it, not much damage was done. Since then I used to keep my books beyond her reach. One day I had left my book on the coffee table, when I came into the hall I saw my little monster trying her best to get her paws on the table. She jumped many a times but she only got her nails on the table. So she went under the table, looked like she was figuring out another plan to get to my book. 5 minutes later she was circling the table. Finally she decided she’ll use the support of one of the legs of the table and started jumping, she managed to get her head and fore paws on the table and dug her teeth into my book and the next second she had dropped on the floor. The book lay open; she settled herself on it and started chewing it. I had no option but to rescue my book again. I didn’t have the heart to scold her. She looked so adorable trying to get on the table, the earnestness with which she was executing her plan was so precious.

The book was out of her reach now; she needed some thing new to chew on so she decided that my Brother and I would be her new chew toys. So when she had an opportunity she’d sit on our lap and chew our hands. Her teeth were like little sharp pins and her “chewing” left scratch marks on our hands. To divert her from our hands I decided I’d give her my slippers and she found true joy in them. No one tried to separate her and the slippers and she could chew on it all she liked. She grew to like the slipper so much, she used to carry it every where with her.

Fortunately for us the teething phase lasted for just about 6 to 8 months. When she was 9 months we moved to another house. When she was 10 months, my parents had to attend a family wedding at Mangalore. So my brother, Fenny and I were put in charge of the house. As soon as my parents left, my brother sat in front of the comp, me in front of the TV and Fenny decided to something by herself. After an hour we realized that Fenny was being awfully quiet. We decided to check on her. She was sitting on my brother’s bed, and was chewing his blanket. We got her of the bed and out into the hall. She got a dose of scolding and spent the rest of her time sulking by the door. She kept sulking for 3 days and cheered up once my parents came back. That’s when we realized that, my parent’s absence had put her in the destructive mode. We were soon to realize that Fenny expressed displeasure or anger by becoming destructive.