Introducing Cookie

Cookie is a chocolate labrador.

As I commence this blog he is about 8 months old, and, I suspect, has been chewing things for about 10 months. He is a boisterous, playful, loving, happy, healthy animal, and a fine addition to our family, if not to our collection of chewables.

The final straw that made me decide to create this blog was the destruction of my favourite pair of "flip-flops", you know, those rubbery sandle-like things you wear to the beach. I had been breaking that particular pair in for a considerable time, and had finally gotten them to a comfortable state.

One slip, one moment of inattention, however, and they became a widely scattered pile of debris, and I'm back to having blisters as I start afresh with a new pair.

But there have been many many other things that have gone the path of my flip-flops over the last seven or so months we have shared our lives with Cookie. As a starting point for this blog, I merely had to go around with the camera photographing the collection of chewed items that are either still functional enough to be retained, or which had not as yet found their way to the trash.
I surprised myself with the amount of material I was able to collect.

In an effort to contain the destruction, we have put up a substantial gate to separate Cookie from the rest of our valuables:


Its nice to have a place where you can relax, but the gate is by no means a foolproof solution. One slip, one moment of carelessness and Cookie will be past you into the house. And once in, you can guarantee that, at full gallop with the entire family in hot pursuit, he will seize and destroy the single thing in the room that you wish he hadn't been able to get hold of.

For this reason, we have a second larger gate that separates him from the back patio into the back yard proper. So far he hasn't managed to get past both gates when a full lock-down is in force.

Its a rare talent. But then we need exceptional things in our lives or things would become boring.