The puppy — which Shannon appropriately named Lucy, as in “Looo-cy, you got some splainin’ to do” — loves wood. She’s already chewed a paint stirrer she found in the garage, the coffee table and an antique rocker, and whenever we are outdoors her favorite items are landscaping ties, sticks and tree bark.

Not that I’m saying she’s dumb.

And while cats may have the same tendency as dogs to scratch and chew things they are not supposed to, they have the good sense to not look guilty about it so that sometimes we cat owners might actually wonder if we did it ourselves.

“Scout, are you the one who ate the newspaper?”

And Scout would sit imperially, lift his chin and look at me as if to say, “Do I LOOK stupid enough to eat paper?” until I would begin to think, “Mmmm. Maybe I ate it. I was awfully hungry when I got home from work.”

But a dog looks guilty before you even realize it’s done anything.

Lucy will come flouncing over to the foot of my chair and look up with big amber eyes and I’ll say, “What have you done?” and go looking for a mess.

On Thursday, I found a trail made of pieces of a chewed ink pen and began to panic.

Sure enough, the trail ended in a big black stain right in the middle of the living room carpet. I guess I could hang a photo there and tell guests I’m trying feng shui.

I’ve never seen a cat eat an ink pen. Even Scout.

I’m just sayin.’

Lucy’s got some splainin’ to do. The only problem is, she just keeps waggin’ her whole-self and staring at me with big amber eyes.

Send your pet tales to Kelly Kazek at kelly@athensnews-courier.com.