Eskie Thieves

Anyone who's ever had American Eskimo Dogs in their family knows that they're thieves. They'll steal just about anything that they think they can eat or play with. Even if they know they'll get in trouble, they're compelled to do it anyway. Sometimes I think that, like kids, the idea of getting in trouble is part of the fun.

We have a dog door (thank heaven!) from our walk-out basement to the backyard. There's nothing more frightening than watching the Eskies both come running down the stairs, through the basement and blast through the dog door as fast as they can. It usually means that one has something he shouldn't (toilet paper, napkin, some choice morsel from the kitchen counter, or plastic from the recycle bin) and the other is chasing after.

Sometimes they're quiet and sneaky about it, especially when I'm still asleep in the morning.

As I've mentioned before, my mom loves to bake. She saves empty Pringles cans to put cookies in to be mailed in care packages to family and friends. The other day, she had a grocery bag with Pringles cans waiting to be filled with goodies sitting on a dining room chair. We thought they were safe because we've installed a gate between the kitchen and dining room to keep the dogs out. The secret is that you need to actually latch the gate. Otherwise, Eskies will figure out a way to get it open.

I woke up that morning to a rustling sound and noticed an Eskie carrying something out through the dog door. I knew it was likely something they weren't supposed to have. So I put on my robe and went out back to investigate.

Lo and behold, there were the Eskies happily destroying the Pringles cans. They sneaked upstairs, pushed the gate open, and pulled them out of the bag. They probably would have gotten more than three if the bag hadn't caught on the third one and the rustling sound hadn't woken me up.

When I asked them in a stern voice, "What are you doing?!" they both looked up from the cans like little kids. "Who? Us? Nothing." I could imagine them saying.

They've stolen other things to be enjoyed outside: Money (fortunately, nothing more than a $1 bill yet), checks, stacks of business cards, post-it notes (for some reason, they love paper), underwear (Boxers or briefs? Our neighbors know.), tubes of lip balm and hand lotion.

The worst was when they sneaked into my mom's bedroom and stole bags of chocolate-covered dried cherries she had bought for Christmas gifts. They were puking and pooping fuchsia all day! It was horrible! It was winter, before we had installed the dog door, so I couldn't just leave them outside. Thank heaven it wasn't good chocolate, so they didn't eat enough cocoa to make them dangerously sick. I quarantined them downstairs (using another gate, latched of course). I still have light pink stains on the basement carpet.