Wit's End

I think I’m at my wit’s end with this dog.

He acts out when I leave him at home alone.  I know this.  I’ve known this.  I’ve learned to mitigate the amount of damage he can do, but he seems to continue to find new ways to fuck shit up.

It started with him tossing his food bowl, so I learned to pick up his bowl before I left.  Then he started to be a bit of a counter surfer, so I started putting things out of his reach that he might want to eat, play with, or just tear up.  Next he moved on to his “rearranging the furniture” stage.  He isn’t big enough to move any of the actual furniture, but anything that he can push around or knock over he will.

So now, after years of living with him, he’s decided that getting into the kitchen trash is a thing to do.

I’ve had this dude for over seven years now and he’s never been a trash raider.  It’s never been an issue regardless of what I threw away.  Out of the blue, just a couple of weeks ago he decided that the trash can was his next hobby.  I bought one of those trash cans with a locking lid.  I figured that even if he knocked it over, he couldn’t get in it.  That turned out to be an incorrect assumption.  He’s a very determined little guy.

So, now it seems that I am not allowed to have a kitchen trash can.  I’m wondering what the repercussions of that will be.  If I can’t have a trash can in the kitchen does that mean I can’t generate any more trash in the kitchen?  Can I no longer have any groceries?  Are my days of cooking done? Must I now go out to eat for every meal?