My Very Own "Marly"

We've had our pup Rusty since he was a wee little pup at 8 weeks old. WOW! He was sooo little! I barely remember him this little! Doesn't he look like an angel??

Now at close to 8 months, it appears he has hit the terrible twos! It seems we have our very own "Marly" on our hands! I loved the book Marly and Me, by Josh Grogan and thought all of the antics Marly put his family through were so cute. Well, let's just say I don't think it's as cute when I'm the receiver of a dog's crazy behavior!

Rusty now destroys EVERY. SINGLE. TOY. we give him. If he's alone with a toy for even just five minutes, this is the result:

 

A toy massacre! All that brown fluffy stuff... yea its stuffing that came out of jack shaped toy where he ripped off every arm of the jack and dissected out each squeaker!

Then today, while I was on the phone with McAfee to get some tech support on my latest virus subscription, Rusty resumed his crazy antics! First, he destroyed yet another toy, which I was ok with because at least he was sitting in one place. Here's a shot of him in action ripping the innards out of a cheetah toy...

Then, he stole The Hubs's chapstick. In true Rusty fashion, he proceeded to run behind the TV in hopes that I couldn't catch him. I finally was able to pry my hands into his mouth to remove said chapstick. All the while, I'm still on the phone with tech support answering the guy's questions and restarting the computer. Finally, Rusty decides that he's going to steal a pen and snap off the part that you use to hang the pen in your pocket. Again, I had to chase him into a tight corner where he proceed to bark at me (I'm still on the phone, mind you.). In the process of trying to remove the now tiny pen parts from him mouth, I spilled a HUGE glass of water everywhere (luckily not on the computer). At this point I really just want to YELL at The Pup, but can't because the guy on the phone will think I'm crazy!

SO FRUSTRATING! The Pup is in the crate now, so that I could have a few minutes of peace and quiet before I head to the gym!

Hopefully, someday I can look back and appreciate these times as funny and endearing, but for now, I'm just trying to stay patient. Here's to hoping things can't be any worse with children! I'm trying to chalk it up to good practice.

Do any of you have pets in the terrible two stage? How do you stay sane? Do you have any recommendations for toys that are hard to destroy?