When I came about a year later, Noel hadn't chewed on the table legs for awhile, but when I asked her where I could get a good chew, she showed me right to the dining room table legs. Mom found us both chewing on a leg. Boy, did she yell! Gates went up all over the place. But the entrance to the formal areas is over 9 feet wide, so Mom had to become creative with a baby gate, a wicker chest, and large cardboard boxes to block the entrance. What she didn't know is that Noel and I could jump on top of the wicker chest and then into the formal area and still chew on the table.

Well, in this family, it wasn't too long before dog #3 came along: Peso, a Chi, who at purchase weighed 1 1/4 lbs. (She now weighs...well, let's just say it's in the double digits.) Peso was feeling the puppy need to chew, so we showed her how to wiggle her way past the chest and boxes to the dining room table. Mom noticed it was very quiet one day and found the three of us all munching on her table. Needless to say it was no longer quiet!

It took Mom awhile, but she finally got the bright idea of wrapping the table legs with dish towels and tape. No more access to the table legs. However, I discovered that the towels made real good pee posts and I baptized evey leg a number of times. As Mom was setting the table for a special occasion, she got a whiff of my markings and I was in trouble again.

Shortly after that, she had a real busy time at work and had to bring paperwork home to do at night. She sat at the dining room table to do her work. She didn't have as much time to play with me and that pissed me off. So to show her how I felt, I jumped up on a chair and then onto the table and lifted my leg and pee'd on her papers! I got some attention after that - tho' maybe not the type I was wanting. While she was cleaning up her papers at the kitchen sink, Noel jumped up on the table and grabbed her red pen she had left there. Noel went into the formal living room by the couch and chewed up the pen until red ink was all over the carpet. That day was the day that Mom almost gave us all away!

But a week or so later, she had calmed down and got lax in her ways. When she went to make a cup of tea, Noel jumped up on the table again and this time got a black Sharpie pen. She went and chewed that in the same spot. You know, Mom is really amazing at getting stains out! But she's a slow learner. It took one more time of Noel getting a blue ink pen from the table before Mom learned to never, ever leave a pen on the table. Noel chewed that one on the stairs and Mom had to have the carpet replaced on one stair.

Then Mom went and bought a black light. Oh, rue the day! A black light shows up all the pee stains and as mine have a definite squiggly line shape, I got in trouble again! I had been marking all around the formal rooms and Mom and Dad's bedroom. I lost my bed sleeping privileges and still have to sleep in a crate. Mom had to get the carpet deep cleaned and used 4 gallons of Nature's Miracle in her bedroom alone.

No dog has been allowed in the formal areas again. Mom found a much better way to keep us out and also booby-trapped the area with "shake-cans" (empty soda cans with about 10 pennies in them. They make an awful noise!)

Mom still loves us, though and has even welcomed two other Chis into the family: Pica and Annie. You'll probably never hear from Annie because she is just a little angel and does whatever Mom tells her. She even house-trained in a week. Pica is a big mean dog in a 3 lb. body. She is bossy! Peso is a Mommie's girl and Noel lets us all do as we like until she has had enough. Then she employs her Alpha-dog status. She tries to do that with Mom, too, but if she's too mouthy she gets put in her kennel. She can be just as stubborn as Mom.

Oh, and I got taken to the vet after I started humping Noel's head. But that's another story...