Now I’m really in the dog house!
Hugo, 2, rips kitchen apart
I F Hugo t he American Bulldog’s expression is a little hangdog, it is hardly surprising.
For the wreckage that surrounds him i n his owner’s kitchen is the result of him being left on his own for less than an hour.
The two-year-old dog clearly did not enjoy the solitude when Craig Sloan had to attend a hospital appointment. So Hugo took out his frustration on the door – by ripping it to pieces and even tearing an escape hole in it.
Sadly, it was not the first time that Hugo had exhibited destructive behaviour and Mr Sloan, from Pollok, Glasgow, decided he could not cope with him any more.
As he shared a photograph on Facebook of Hugo sitting guiltily in the middle of the mess caused by his attack on the door, Mr Sloan said he had returned his pet to his previous owner.
He added: ‘He goes everywhere with me but he’s not allowed in the hospital. He must have missed me.’
Mr Sloan said that Hugo’s kitchen-destroying activities were the final straw. He added: ‘It’s not just because of that door. He’s done my couch twice. I tried my best with him, but he was too wild. I’ve taken him back to the guy I got him from, so he’s OK.’
Friends sympathised with Mr Sloan in a series of comments posted beneath the photograph.
Pauline Smith said: ‘This behaviour is not a sign of neglect.
‘It can be stress from new surroundings – a move by all the family into a new home, perhaps a new routine where the owner changes working hours. Some dogs are just naturally destructive, no matter how hard you work with them.’ Some Mail Online readers were more critical of Mr Sloan. Jean, from Blackburn, wrote: ‘Bad, bad owner! Dogs need a “family” life, too. You don’t sell them back and forth to each other every other month just so you can pose on Facebook or send selfies.’
David f rom Chatham, Kent, posted: ‘So you locked the dog in a tiny kitchen all day!!!!’
But Darren Bass wrote: ‘So many quick to assume neglect or that he was out for days on end.
‘I had a collie half that size that could destroy that door, along with nine pairs of Nikes, a bookshelf and her own bed in two hours.’
Another Mail Online reader, Deanna from London, said that as Hugo was aged two she thought it unlikely he would grow out of his destructive behaviour.
She added: ‘That sort of behaviour is self-gratifying for dogs – you could call it “comfort chewing’’. Best to train them at a young age to be left for short periods. The main trouble usually starts at six months when they teethe.
‘They do normally grow out of the destructive phase at six months to a year, year-and-a-half old.’
‘I tried my best but
he was too wild’