Scratching in the Night

I get home night before last and let the dogs out as I usually do. Hubby went up to bed with Scooter in tow, and I stayed downstairs with the others as our usual ritual to let them settle down long enough to start drifting off to sleep but hopefully not long enough for Cojak to fall into full slumber. He's a bear to wake up just to go upstairs, seems like it takes me 5min or more just to get him to wake up. Some guard dog!
Anyway, once upstairs, I shower, and give the 3 that sleeps with us their nightly snack, and lay back to begin watching a bit of tv. Turn the baby monitor for the downstairs on to listen and make sure all is peaceful. SCRATCH, feet running, SCRATCH, SCRATCH, more feet. I get up and go down to see what is going on. There is styrofoam all over the floor in the family room. Some one had gotten one of the kitchen chair pads and properly destroyed it. That's the third one now, by the way. So I pick up all the pieces, meanwhile just fussing at all 3 of the ones downstairs. Bad dog, I say, you shouldn't do that. Just scolding away. I throw the stuff away, come out of the laundry room, 2 of the 3 are gone, and Dakota is slinking around with her tail tucked between her legs, head held down. The other three went and hid under things, and wouldn't come out! Now I feel bad, cause I scolded them. Sheesh, to look at them you would have thought I beat them, they just have a way of pulling at your heart huh? So, naturally I apologized, started talking baby talk to them, and all was right with the world.
Told them to go to Nighty-nite, back upstairs to bed I went, no more problems.