Like most puppies, Saachi gnawed and chewed as her adult teeth grew. Like most puppies, her mouth needed a lot of stimulation. Like a lot of puppies, Saachi destroyed furniture with her teething. Like a fair amount of puppies, Saachi chewed us out of house and home. Literally but not as dramatically.

We should have found more ways to re-direct Saachi’s teething. She was extremely aggressive and toys were out of the question with other pets around. She had a bad stomach so bones and sticks were too. What did that leave us with?

Chairs.

Her favorite was a blue one that was part of a set of in our guest living room. The space we entertained friends, extended family,…clients…

But, sitting in the middle of the room was this one chair, with one leg missing. A leg that was fully chewed off one lovely evening during an even lovelier dinner party. Saachi and Affie both messed around nuzzling our guests, receiving lots of coos and “aww! how cute!”s. We settled into the seats and began the typical rounds of conversation.

Sometime during the evening, my father suddenly tipped in the chair. Saachi, his pride and joy, lay at his feet and cleanly gnawed off the front right leg of his chair!

A normal family would have trashed the seats but I guess we weren’t normal because instead we centered the chair like a badge of pride (after all, Saachi was the child my father always wanted) and balanced it with “smart” books. You know, the long, difficult monologues or transcripts everyone says they’ve read but don’t actually understand…

 

At the end of the day, it wasn’t Saachi’s fault, it was ours but as a result Saachi had the most lopsided row of adult teeth ever. And she, like us, flaunted them with pride!

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.