Simplify

Lately I've been on a mission to clear away the clutter - get rid of all the extra stuff in our house that never gets used and just adds to stress. While I've been on one of these kicks in the past, this time instead of diving all the way in and getting completely overwhelmed by all the organizing I made a goal to choose a minimum of three things each day to get rid of. It could be extra kitchen utensils that don't get used, clothes not being worn, out of date medications in the medicine cabinet, or in the case of the canines in our house - old damaged toys and extra leashes and harnesses. It's been going great and already after a few weeks of doing this, I can see a change coming over the house.

Salinas supervising my decluttering of a kitchen drawer

Luckily the little changes don't get my anxious crew of dogs worked up and while they do like to watch what in the heck I'm doing while I'm organizing, for the most part they just see it as one more odd and mysterious thing that their human is doing.

But today I happened to cast my eye upon their toy basket. There were plenty of chewed up squeakie toys that I could be rid of.

Their basket of tough toys and chews

A Cuz, desqueaked by Frodo

As many of you know though, a dog never loves a toy more than at the moment you decide to throw it away. Oh, the conniptions, the pacing, the snuffling of the cabinet where the garbage can is kept. They were beside themselves for quite awhile. They'll get over it though.

Langley absolutely loved this Jolly Ball and would throw it everywhere by its handle. Sadly, Chima decided the handle needed to go and chewed it off 3 days after I brought it home. 

So as much as they find my mission to get rid of things perplexing (and alarming when the focus is their toy basket) in the end, simplifying the environment is a great way to calm oneself. And calm humans are just what a dog needs.