Days Without Incident ~ DIY Dry Erase Instructable

We have developed a running bulletin about the new dog Charley at our house.  It's a futile attempt to see the light at the end of the bad puppy behavior tunnel. You know-chewed shoes, fence jumping and geysers in our backyard from gnawed on irrigation.  Charley is through-and-through puppy trouble... and we've resorted to daily reports of his "days without incident" hoping to see it tapering off.

We are in a rural area near a large surburb... we have a lot of animals dumped out here.  After 14 years of trying to help these discarded furry souls I've come to see the pattern.   Seems everyone loves a puppy but when they begin to need correction for their adolescent behavior and require a monetary investment of a quick snip trip to the vet they get "set free" to starve in the desert.  Charley is the latest.  He was trying to jump into fast moving cars on one of the major roads out here.  It took 20 minutes to round him up...and he only allowed my son to get near him.  So we got him fixed and shots to help him get a better chance at a good home and then his true puppiness shone through.  Charley is the toughest combination, smart and naughty...  you know there is a truly good dog in there but there is a bunch of supervision and disciplinary actions needed to bring it out.  Our last desert rescue Trevir was the same combo and introducing Charley into the pack caused him to relapse so they got nicknamed Trouble (Trevir) and Naughty (Charley).

Generously heaping ground cayenne pepper on off limits chewable items has slowed the destruction in the yard.  However, Trouble taught Naughty how to climb the fence and they've gone on two major expeditions, one of which the sheriffs were actually notified!  We began quoting the infamous workplace signs recording days without accidents but with the "Hulk" twist of tracking incidents.  And yesterday I made a sign to hang on Charley's indoor bed....sharing the pride or shame of the day.

THE SIGN

The plan was to put together a quick little sign to put at Charley's indoor bed to help keep track of his progress.  I had thought about doing the classic hanging numbers like an old time scoreboard but making numbers 0-9 sounded tedious.  Next idea... 

Plan B~ dry erase! 

Not wanting to have to buy anything additional for this project I figured somebody out in Internet Craftland had come up with a homemade dry erase board. 

A search came up with nada... "go buy a board," they say;  "there's got to be another way", I say.  

So, I started digging around in the studio and found a couple options.  First,  dry erase marker worked well on glass.  It went on and erased easily on a 5x7 glass picture frame.  I started work on putting the signage inside the little frame until I realized this sign was going on Naughty's bed...one bump to the sign could result in shattered glass.  

Back to testing marker on different items in the studio...didn't erase off a counter top sample square (oops!) BUT did go on and come off a piece of glazed tile.  In fact, worked terrific! 

 

  

I dug out two 2"x2" white gloss glazed tiles from my supply stash.  Next I printed a doggie clip art that actually looks a lot like Charley.  I also printed my sign lettering that I made using an online editing app.  Finally, found an old piece of barnwood out in the lumber pile for the sign base. 
I used Modge Podge to stick the dog silhouette and "days" lettering.  I have found putting a coat on the board and the back of the paper then sticking it down and letting it dry before sealing it with a second coat avoids a lot of wrinkles.  After sealing the entire board with a couple coats of  Modge Podge and letting it dry I stuck  the tiles down with E6000 glue.

Here it is.  The broken part of the barnwood actually makes for a perfect pen rest.   Charley likes it. 
And, as of today, his top number is more than his bottom number...on a winning streak!