It sounds to me like rodents. If you lived here I'd say tree-rats (squirrels). They need to discover it and being the social animals they are, they tell the whole squirrel neighborhood. So suddenly that can happen. They are very sloppy eaters and mercilessly slobber fruit all over and seem to like taking bites out of green fruit and leaving them half finished. They massacred my green strawberries. Short of exterminating them, the best bet is to get a dog or cat. Or put a motion activated noisemaker. I tried putting hot pepper powder - the Capsiyummiest, and they just mocked me and ate away. Other people say it works, so I can only tell you what I saw, day after day. Once rodents discover a taste they like there is no stopping them and they develop a mischievous obsession to maximize your pain. I had to go to a support group to try to get over mine ;-), but nothing ever cured me.

I have a story, but it isn't funny. We have a little yorkie-poo. She was less than a year old when she got sick. She had a few stomach issues and they did a poop culture (sorry!), and found some type bacteria. Treated that but within a couple of weeks, she started vomiting one evening. She had never done this and after a couple of times I called our vet. Because of her small size (she's only 9 lbs. now fully grown) they had us bring her in so she wouldn't get dehydrated. They examined her, pumped her full of fluids and suggested we watch her closely overnight. The fluids and some meds helped with the vomiting but by early morning she was vomiting again. We got up, dressed and ready to get her to the vet their opening time. They did an x-ray and showed us that something was showing in her digestive track. Something she had ingested. I remembered that she had torn one of her little toys and although I never saw any stuffing out of the toy, I knew there was stuffing and we just assumed she had eaten that. They had to do emergency exploratory surgery. I bawled my eyes out. The next day when we were allowed to *visit*, the vet showed me the PLASTIC MEAT WRAPPER that she had eaten. It was to a pretty critical point, it had started through her intestines. The vet was wonderful, even took our little baby home with her overnight to keep a close eye on her and the pup came through the surgery with flying colors. And a nice little *zipper* down her belly. Hubby and I both felt awful. We didn't know she had gotten the wrapper. We figured that she had quickly grabbed it out of the garbage (which was behind a closed door, but if she saw us put something in there she'd jump up to investigate) and gotten away with it without us seeing. The stick on label on the plastic wrapping was what we were seeing on the x-ray. Alot of tears and $$$ over a meat wrapper! She's not interested in the garbage anymore (she was just a puppy then) thankfully, but we are even more cautious when throwing something away! I never throw away a meat wrapper now without putting it in another bag and tying it up first. Our pup too watches tv. It's hilarious. There was an M&M commercial that she didn't like. Now she doesn't like the Weight Watchers commercial where they have the little orange monster (hungry). She knows by the very first sound of that commercial that it's THE ONE and immediately starts barking. She barks at most dogs she sees on tv, other than cesear. Maybe because he's little like her. tina

I have a rescue dog. We have had many issues and I went to a group training class for aggressive dogs, had a behaviorist come and help and although I did what I was told, things got worse. Long story short, we are now involved with a trainer from Bark Busters. See if you have one near you. The trainer comes to your home and evaluates your needs. My biggest issue was being able to way by other dogs without mine going into attack mode. I can do this now. You train the dog with out treats, and with a firm voice. You don't yell at your dog. We are also working on his constant barking when people walk by our home. We have seen an improvement, but he will back slide if we are not diligent. It has been less than a month and there is improvement for the better.

Thanks for the compliments - I think she is beautiful too, but I am rather partial :-) We went out tonight after I got home from a long night at work, about midnight. I took her out to "do her business" and she wanted to run and play so I took her leash off and let her run around. Of course, she went over between the shed and the fence (where I don't normally let her go). It was dark but I could tell she was rolling around (ewww) so I had to physically pull her outta there. Then she found a spot in the yard she was just insisting on rolling in so I releashed her and brought her in. SHE SMELLS AWFUL NOW! At first I didn't think it was poo of anykind, it smelled more a dead animal. I sprayed her with some "Nature's Miracle" spray and dander remover and brushed her but I swear I can still smell it. My DH is going to just die when we come to bed. I certainly don't have the time or energy for a bath tonight... Tomorrow morning we will embark on a new journey with Lexi - her first bath!! :-) Thanks again for the compliments, she is as soft as she looks in the picture too, by the way. ~P