Noooo Nina!!

These past two days I have been dealing with a shoe crisis.  You are probably thinking, "What could be wrong?! You are in Italy for godsake!"  Well, Monday night I returned home from an evening out with Michela.  The weather wasn't so great during the day, so in the evening Michela and I got out to do some errands.  Upon coming home, I put my shoes up out of the way of Nina.  Remember, Nina is a 5 month puppy who is going through a major chewing stage.  After putting the shoes up and away, I headed to bed for the night.

Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early.  I headed downstairs to get breakfast.  As I was walking down the stairs, I noticed one of my brand new Tory Burch shoes sitting on the stairs.  Just one shoe.  I knew immediately that Nina had somehow got hold of my shoes.  I was praying to God as I got an awful sick feeling in my stomach... Please let the other shoe be OK!  I looked everywhere for the shoe, and it was nowhere to be found at first.  I finally decided to look in Nina's crate, where she usually sleeps at night.  As I approached the crate, I saw the outline of my shoe.  I took a deep breath, and I found...

It was the most horrible thing I have experienced since almost missing my flight to get to Ireland.  For the first time in my life, I spent a good amount of money on a pair of shoes.  Money I would probably never have spent, but it was for a good cause.  (Remember how I went to the Lung Cancer Awareness Fundraiser, well these are the shoes I purchased.)  I was so upset about it, almost to the point of tears.  There is probably no way these shoes can be fixed.  The crazy thing is that the sole of the shoe is perfectly intact.  It is just the outer part that has been chewed to death.

I showed my shoe to Michela, and she was like "Oh my!"  She said to show it to Alfredo.  I said OK, but I asked her if she really thought anything could be done.  Her response, "No."  I did email the Tory Burch company to see what might be able to be done.  The response I received was, "I apologize this is not a manufacturer defect, therefore we will not be able to repair the shoes.  We recommend taking them to your local cobbler for repair."  Seriously... "Take them to your local cobbler for repair."  This was not the response I was expecting from a high end company.  I was expecting them to respond that it could be repaired, however you will have to pay money for it.  I emailed the company back again asking if they could be repaired by the company if money was paid.  I just have to wait and hear back from them.  


Lesson Learned:  Do not ever leave expensive shoes in any area where I puppy may or may NOT get a hold of them.

I thought my shoes were safe up and out of reach of the dog, but I guess I was wrong.  And to think, the only reason why I spent the money on the shoes (besides liking them so much) was because the money was going towards a good cause.