News Flash: Jack Makes the Naughty List

You're probably thinking: "How can a pooch with a face like that be naughty?" Incredible, I know, but this morning he just couldn't take it any longer. And after he had been doing so well, too.

We've tried to keep the Christmas season as temptation-free as possible for Jack. Due to his love of ripping large branches off the cedar hedge and tossing them around the yard we decided it would be imprudent to bring a full-size evergreen into our house and hang fragile decorations and lights on its branches. Instead, we opted for a tiny table-top tree and only a few of the less fragile ornaments. Jack has left it unscathed and I've been praising his self-restraint and maturity. Little did I know he was just biding his time.

This morning while I was working in the upstairs office he was downstairs. Alone. Snoozing in his favorite spot on the couch. I gradually became aware that the kind of quiet I was enjoying was just not right (those of you with children or dogs will understand). Then the silence was broken by a "crunch." By the time I got downstairs an ornament had been subdued and was about to be devoured. Jack looked truly ashamed of himself. He even laid down and put his trouble-making schnoz between his paws to placate me.

I started back upstairs. I believe in second chances and he seemed to have learned his lesson.

I was right. The lesson he had learned was that I'm a total push over, and one mitten-chase-around-the-dining-room later, Jack has landed not only on Santa's naughty list, but mine. Hopefully, Santa will not bring him any coal...that would just encourage him I'm afraid.