The Great Shoe Mystery

For years now, I come home to find my shoes, or one shoe, lying in the oddest spots in my house. Now, most people would assume it was the dog. Everyone knows dogs love shoes and anyone with a dog most likely experienced the loss of a few shoes to a dog. Fortunately, my dog never actually picked up that habit. I can honestly say, my dog, Ebenezer, has never chewed up a shoe (the inner foot pad, maybe).

My cat on the other hand has a shoe fetish. On several occassions, I have seen her with her head in my shoe or sleeping on top of them. This leads me to doubt the likely culprit, my dog, and turn my attentions to the only other possible shoe bandit in the house, the cat. Now, you may be thinking that this theory is ridiculous. But, keep in mind, my cat is actually bigger than my 6.5 lb Maltipoo (that is a Maltese/Poodle mix, for the few of you not familiar with "designer dogs").

So, as I ponder the possiblities- my cat's shoe fetish and my dog's lack of shoe chewing behavior- I start to realize that my theory is not so crazy. My cat is moving my shoes around the house! (Hey, she might even be doing it to frame the dog...)

I may have you believing this by now as well. And, I actually thought I had solved this mystery until a few days ago.

My husband came home in the middle of the day and sat down at our home office desk. He started hearing some thuds from upstairs. He ignored the first thud and assumed it was the dog chasing the cat (they like to play this game...). Then he heard a very loud thud and thought the two had knocked something off of our nightstand in the bedroom. My husband raced to the bottom of the stairs just in time to see my Maltipoo trotting down the hallway with a shoe in his mouth! Caught him red-handed when he least expected it! He had been throwing the shoe around like one of his toys (another game he likes to play) and he ran down the stairs to greet my husband with his prize.

We are happy to report that we now keep our shoes in the closet and the door closed when we leave the house....The Great Shoe Mystery- solved!