Well, after this went on for a few days, I became wise to Pepper’s little scheme.  After puking, Pepper would immediately eat everything that came up.  It never occurred to the dog that this stuff was better left uneaten.  She didn’t catch on to the pattern developing.  Eat this stuff, throw it up the next day, eat it again, throw it up the next day, etc.  Pepper didn’t understand me telling her “After you puke, leave it alone.  Walk away and just come back inside, you’ll feel better!”.

Somehow this must be fun for the dog.  I have no idea why she keeps doing this, but if she must, she must.  I’ve looked around at bookstores, but haven’t found the “How To Teach Your Dog Not To Eat Its Own Vomit” book.

Then, a few days ago, I busted her big time.  While I was watching TV, Pepper snuck off and went into her crate and began to perform her little guttural symphony.  The oddest noises were escaping her crate.  Once my tears cleared and I stopped laughing at her noises, I looked into her crate and saw her chewing on something.  I grabbed her face and pulled this thing out of her mouth (like you’d do to a toddler eating a penny or something).  This hard little object looked strangely familiar.  As I was examining it, I noticed she was starting to chew on something else.  I got that one, too.  They were both pieces (about the size of a peanut) of this nylon chew bone she had been working on for the past few weeks.  But instead of being white, they were now brown from siting in her stomach for over a week.  I threw the little “Pepper bits” away, and then found what was left of the nylon bone and threw that out, too.  Pepper would chew on that bone and occasionally bite of a big piece and swallow it.  Mmmm, yummy, impossible-to-digest nylon!!

The next day, Pepper secretly grabbed Julie’s blue chalk (used to mark fabric) and savored a good third of it before Julie realized it was missing and took it back from her.  And you think your mouth turns blue after eating a blue-raspberry blow-pop!  I just sat there, starring at this blue-mouthed dog.  Pepper was just smiling at me (if dogs can, indeed, smile) as if everything was just great and this was a wonderful day.

What is wrong with our little animal?  I had no idea what to do in that situation.  So I poured her a bowl of green paint and gave her a few crayons to eat.  Followed by a spool of thread for dessert.
 

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