Origami love and holey blankets

I'm not sure what to think. After spending the weekend away from home at a conference, I got this wonderful welcome home origami love packet from my daughter:

My son welcomed me with a hug and a kiss!

And the Springer? Apparently he was not getting enough attention from me, because while my son was showing me a funny YouTube video he found, Mr. Springer chewed a fist-sized hole in one of the nice throw blankets that I keep on the living room couch. He got kennel time for it.

It didn't matter.

Shortly after his release, and while I was assisting my daughter with a project, he stole one of my son's socks, hid under my daughter's bed (okay, his hind end was sticking out, so it wasn't really "hiding") and growled at me for what seemed like a full five minutes when I told him to let go of it. Actually, the command we use is "Give." And I did pull him out from under the bed by his hind legs when he started growling, so his little doggy mind probably perceived it as an "escalation" of some kind, when in reality, I just didn't want him to make a hole in yet another sock.

I asked my son if he had misbehaved at all before I came home.

"Nope," my son replied. "I think he's mad at you for leaving!"

So, while my kids give me hugs and little gifts after I've been gone, the Springer is an entirely different animal (Pun intended!). Apparently, he's a classic "negative attention" kind of critter. I don't know exactly how it happened, because I'm the one who comes home at noon and feeds him. I'm usually the one who lets him out when he needs to pee. I let him curl up next to me on the couch and I pet him while I'm watching television.

So, where DID I go wrong with this one? : )

Dawn