Couple buy five sofas in three years because dogs kept destroying them

A couple have had to buy their fifth sofa since 2016 because their dogs won’t stop destroying them.

24-year-old Alannah Horscroft and her husband Lee, from Essex, have spent thousands replacing their furniture because their Staffordshire bull terrier Ziggy and rottweiler-husky cross Honey keep chewing them up.

The couple have been buying new sofas for the last three years, including a duck feather sofa in 2018 that left their living room ‘looking like a bomb had exploded’, and now they’ll only buy them secondhand.

Alannah, who is pregnant with her first child, said: ‘The first sofa was replaced in early 2016 due to being so scuffed and having a rip in from their claws, the second sofa was the same, third sofa was the feather one and they clawed it to bits, the fourth sofa was only a temporary one which had the same end as the others and now we’re on our fifth.

‘We have to get a new sofas at least once a year, and this has been going on for five years now.

‘I can’t tell them off because they’re so adorable, but by now they know what they’re doing, and they know it’s naughty, but they never seem to learn.’

For a dog who loves to tear apart stuffed animals, make a durable activity ball with a Hol-ee rubber ball, scraps of fabric, and treats.

Alannah and Lee with Ziggy and Honey
Ziggy and Honey have been destroying the sofas (Picture: Caters News)
The couple have had Ziggy since he was a puppy, adopting him in 2013, and they have had Honey since 2015.

The pair started destroying the sofas a year later.

Alannah continued: ‘The worst one was when they ate a duck feather sofa. We had only been out of the house for a couple of hours.

‘It was like a bomb had just exploded, or 15 ducks just had a wrestling match in my house, the duck feathers almost made a new rug across the floor.

‘When we went to find the dogs they were hiding upstairs under the bed, where they frequently end up after one of their messy episodes.

Lee with the dogs
They’ve bought five sofas in the last three years (Picture: Caters News)

‘At the time we did not see the funny side, the feathers were everywhere and sweeping them all up took hours – not to mention the week after having to go and buy a new sofa.’

‘My bed is on legs, when I went to find them they crawled out from their hiding place and rolled on to their backs, looking sorry for themselves – when they do that it’s impossible to be mad at them.

‘My “comedian” husband played his role as well, once I had it all swept up he threw a pillow in the middle of them and they scattered across the room again.

INTERESTING FACT ABOUT YOUR PET: Former Michael Vick dogs, Sox and Hector, are certified therapy dogs. They now spend their days cheering up people at hospitals, nursing homes, and schools.

‘We don’t even by the sofas brand new anymore, because we know their life expectancy is about twelve seconds.’

Alannah says her dogs are ‘lovely’ even if they are a ‘little troublesome’.

The dogs together
Apparently the pair are still lovely dogs, though (Picture: Caters News)

She said:’They don’t mean to do it, they just seem to have a yearly wrestling match and unfortunately the sofa is their biggest enemy.

‘I remember once when I bought a really expensive rug and Honey decided one day that it was a toilet, just another reason why we don’t always by brand new furniture anymore!

‘What’s done is done, and they’re a part of the family, it’s just annoying because we can’t exactly ground them, it’s not like having children.

‘We wouldn’t change them for anything, they’re such funny dogs, so when all is said and done, it’s not a big deal.

‘We’ll just have to wait and see how long this sofa lasts.’

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