Floki Is Seriously Weird

I love my Corgi. He is the sweetest, most even-tempered dog I have ever had. But he’s a little odd.

He’s still a puppy, so it’s not surprising that he likes to chew on things. The other day, he got out of his enclosure and proceeded to shred various things on the floor. 

 
Compared to what he’s done before, this is a small mess. Although still incredibly annoying.

While I was cleaning this up, I noticed a blue lid in the mix. I picked it up to throw it away, and realized it came from the Tums jar. Crrrrraaaaaap! Upon further inspection, I found the empty container. He had eaten the Tums.

There hadn’t been many left, but it was still cause for concern. I immediately placed a call to the vet, who reassured me that everything would be all right. Apparently, there’s nothing poisonous in Tums (thank goodness!), but the extra calcium could cause constipation. I was supposed to keep on eye on him.

Turns out, he’s fine. No adverse effects from ingesting the tummy meds. However, he has to be put in a kennel for his own safety. As I told him as I was leaving, “Naughty dogs get put in the box.” And he just stared at me with all his adorableness.

In addition to shredding anything and everything he can find, Floki also has a strange habit of stealing the soap out of the shower. He hasn’t done it in a few days, but why he would do it at all is mind boggling. I mean, it has to taste disgusting. It’s soap! But he’s fascinated with it.

He also has a strange habit of licking the couch. I’m pretty sure he does this because it smells like food. I have kids, so no doubt there are crumbs all over the place. It’s still really annoying, though. It sucks sitting in the wet spots.

If given a chance, Floki would eat homework. Seriously. On several occasions I have had to take paper away from him, and the times he’s gotten out, he’s found some graded assignment to shred. I can only imagine how happy the boys would be if he ate their homework.

Despite his quirks, Floki is a wonderful dog. I’m so glad he’s part of our family, and—honestly—I’m curious to see what weird thing he’ll do next.

Things I Don’t Want to Deal With at 4:00 a.m.

The other night, I was woken out of a dead sleep by my cat’s meowing. It was about 3:45, and in my tired brain, I thought she was trapped in a room somewhere in the house. I got up and walked around, listening for where she might be, but had no luck finding her. This, of course, woke up the dogs. I went back to bed and tried to get back to sleep, but then heard her again.

At this point, I realized she was outside, so I went to the back door to let her in. As I said, the dogs were now up, so I let them out to take care of business. I figured I’d go back to bed for a while, then get them later.

I laid down for maybe 5 minutes before getting back up to get the dogs. I stood at the back door and called them, but they didn’t come. Using my flashlight, I realized they were enthralled with something, so I went to find out what.

Turns out it was a dead rodent.

I got Floki away from it and back in the house, then when I turned to get Siggy, she had carried the thing onto the deck. She was so proud of herself. She was trotting like she just won the grand prize. I wasn’t impressed. I told her to drop it, which she did because she’s a good girl, and then I took her inside.

I grabbed some gloves, the dust pan, and a ziplock bag to put the corpse in. I stepped onto the deck and stared at the creature. It had been raining, so the fur was wet and matted to its body—although part of that was probably also from being in both dogs’ mouths—its front legs were curled up, and its eyes were closed.

Nope, I thought. I’m not dealing with this now.

I went back inside, put my supplies on the counter, and went back to bed. Where I dreamed of rodents.

When I got up later, while the dogs were eating breakfast, I grabbed the shovel and took care of the poor creature. I have no doubt the cat is the suspect in the murder. This isn’t the first time we’ve found a dead rodent at the house, and Floki found another one later that morning.

I don’t blame her. She’s just doing what comes naturally, but there are just some things I can’t deal with that early in the morning.

Focusing on the Positive…and the Adorable!

I think it’s been about a month now (maybe a little longer; I stopped keeping track!) since we’ve had Floki come into our home and a few weeks since we got Siggy. And things have been awesome!

As some of you may recall, after the incident with Rolo, I was really nervous about getting another Corgi. I wanted another fur baby in the house, but I wasn’t sure I could handle it emotionally. I’ll admit, I was pretty bad for the first few days, but things have mellowed out quite a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I still worry. I watch the dogs pretty closely and every time one of them yips or is quiet for too long, I rush to find out what’s happened. For the most part, I feel like my actions are pretty normal. I mean, they’re still puppies. It’s my job to keep them safe.

In addition to the worry, I’m also happy.

I knew when we got the dogs that they wouldn’t be Rolo. I knew they would have their own personalities and quirks. Still, it was hard not to compare them, and quite a few times, I called Floki, Rolo. But it happens less and less.

I still miss Rolo, and I think about him often, but Floki and Siggy are absolutely adorable! They’re a lot of work—they’re still babies—but they are so sweet. They can’t ever replace Rolo, but they help fill the hole he left in our hearts.

Siggy taking a nap.

Floki and Siggy playing.