About a month ago, I took Dusty in the car with me and headed over to work. He hadn't wanted to stay home by himself and he loves the car, so it seemed like a good idea. He has been in my car countless times and usually sits patiently and waits for me. He chews on a bone or jumps back and forth from front to the back seat and enjoys having all of the car to play in. And somehow, too, I think he feels closer to me when he is in the car instead of at home. I went out during lunch to take him out and play with him, and then returned to work.
When I came out a few hours later to take him home, Dusty was in the passenger's seat with a guilty look on his face. I noticed, to my horror, that he had chewed and scratched my dashboard. Much of the leather was in shreds and the batting exposed. While one of my first thoughts was gratitude that it hadn't been so bad as to trigger the airbag, I was furious with Dusty. The seatbelt was bad enough, but the dash is so noticeable, so non-essential to fix, but now aesthetically horrendous. There is no hiding it. And, since the damage was done and he had likely forgotten about it, I found it hard to scold him effectively to deter future damage. It isn't practical for me to banish him from the car (though I did for a while). And he gets out of his crate despite several strategically-placed locks on different parts of the cage. This is something the dog training videos just don't cover. Cesar, I need your wisdom, pronto!
