A brindle boxer dog with a white face and chest is sitting indoors, looking up with its head tilted to one side, wearing a black collar—almost as if it’s wondering, "how naughty is your pet compared to me?.

How Naughty Is Your Pet?

ByLouise
New research has revealed that pets are costing us Brits a massive £1.2bn worth of household damage a year.
The research was carried out by online blinds retailer DirectBlinds.co.uk. The results showed that dogs are the worst culprits with 52% of pet owners sending them to the dog house for bad behaviour. They’re not on their own though  as cats came in a close second (40%) and rabbits and other small animals were third (5%).
The survey also showed that 46% of pet owners have to clean up after their pets at least once a week, with 95% spending up to an hour tidying up any mess pet has left behind.
The top methods of destruction include scratching with 61% of pet owners falling victims to their pet’s claws. This is followed by chewing (43%) and an unfortunately 22% have to contend with urine or excrement.  

I am a smug pet owner and I will often tell our family and friends that Pepper our Boxer dog is the perfect pet. We know that when we go out for the afternoon, to the supermarket or on the school run she will behave herself and the house will be the same way we left it when we return. But she wasn’t always this way. In fact she was something of a pain in the bum. Let me take you back 5.5 years when Pepper was a very small cute (she’s still very cute by the way) Boxer baby – Don’t be fooled by those eyes in these pictures she was a menace.

A brindle boxer dog with a white face and chest is sitting indoors, looking up with its head tilted to one side, wearing a black collar—almost as if it’s wondering, "how naughty is your pet compared to me?.A young black and white Boxer puppy sits on a concrete floor, tilting its head to the side with an inquisitive look—as if wondering, just how naughty is your pet compared to me?.

So back to my story. Pepper was a nightmare. She wasn’t very old (6 – 9 months if I remember correctly) and you expect the odd shoe or skirting board to be chewed, the odd accident on the carpet you know the sort of thing puppies do. But do you expect your kitchen bin and mop bucket to be emptied? Well in all honesty we didn’t (maybe we should have). It was an ordinary day. Matthew had dropped me off at work, taken Callum to playgroup arrived home with baby Nathan to wait for our new bed being delivered and low and behold the below scene greeted him. To say he wasn’t happy was an understatement. As I was at work he was left to sort out the mess. He must have only been out of the house 30 – 45 minutes maximum. This was the last time we have ever had a kitchen bin in view (we now have one that hides in a cupboard). 

A messy room with rubbish and paper littering the floor, as if asking how naughty is your pet; a broom and dustpan sit in the centre, overturned chairs and a high chair in the background, and a wooden table to the left. The image is dated 06/09/2008.

We also had the time when she was teething and chewed a massive hole in some boxing in the kitchen – needless to say she was in the bad books for a little while with that one as we had to buy and replace said boxing. But with the help of stop chewing spray she soon stopped trying to munch on the things she shouldn’t.

A close-up of two metal pipes running through a rough hole cut into a white painted wooden wall, with chipped paint and exposed wood edges visible—almost as if revealing how naughty your pet is in their wildest antics.

Since then we’ve had the odd accident and the odd moment of naughtiness, but as Pepper has grown older she has thankfully calmed down a lot – it may also have something to do with the fact that she was given a treat when we came home to no mess and destruction. 

Directblinds.co.uk is campaigning for pet owners in the UK to join in their search to find the nation’s naughtiest pet. Do you think your pet could be the one they are looking for?

To get involved just share your best photos of your naughty pet on Twitter (@DirectBlinds) and Facebook using the hashtag #naughtypets. The owner of the naughtiest pet will win a £500 voucher for a home retailer of their choice plus a new blind. The naughty pet will also receive some treats too!
Entries are also accepted via email to naughtypets@directblinds.co.uk. Competition closes Monday 30th June. To find out more visit: http://www.directblinds.co.uk/blog/win-a-500-voucher-by-sharing-your-naughty-pets/

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