We're Such Busy Girls!

My little boxer has a new hobby. One that I will daresay has been brought on out of shear necessity. She has decided that when she is given a "special" treat, that she is going to hide it, or bury it. The other day, Rob told me that she was out digging up a milk bone from the garden. I suspect that Lucy has gotten has tired of having her treats stolen from her and has figured out that if she buries them, or hides them, that she'll eventually get back to them!

The other day, I gave Lucy a large chew bone and was surprised when she didn't immediately start chewing on it. She loves those darn things- "What's wrong, Lucy?" Instead of chewing it, she sat at the edge of the gate by my office with the chew bone at her feet and whimpered.

After about a 1/2 hour of this whimpering, myself at whits end not knowing what was going on, I decided to open the gate and let her roam the store to see what happened. I let her go by herself, vowing to check on her in a couple of minutes figuring she would go about whatever business she needed to take care of better, without her human standing over her. I could hear her tags on her collar jingling out there, so I knew she was moving around, but it sounded like she was back by the door to go outside. So, I went out to investigate. And there stood Lucy waiting to take her bone outside.

"Sorry Lucy, that's not a good idea. Let's go hide it in the store, okay?" (I've got to stop having entire conversations with this dog like she understands what I'm saying- or someone is going to have me committed!)

Lucy wandered around for 10 minutes, dropping the bone and pushing it under various pieces of furniture several times only to retrieve it seconds later. I wasn't sure what to make of this situation. And when she plopped the bone down on the far back side of a vanity stool, and then sat there staring at it and whimpering I was at even more of a loss. The bone is back in my office- and Lucy will not chew it. And I am still confused. I've tried to explain to her several times, that I have many more of those bones and that there is no other dog here to take her bones!

She won't eat the bone- won't even look at it, but every flower, clump of grass, or twig in sight is fair game.

There are massive bunches of what I believe to be sweet peas growing behind the store, and I've been picking them and placing them on my desk in the bat cave to brighten and cheer things up a little bit. (I call my office the bat cave because it's so dark in here- no windows- only 2 lamps- one of which refuses to work every other day- today is one of those days. My office was also at one point a bathroom, so you can only imagine!)

Lucy has other plans for these fragrant little flowers, and every time she gets near one, it's gone within seconds. Yesterday, she carried a huge clump of dried grass around the parking lot for 5 minutes, then marched right into the store with it and proceeded to shred it all over my office floor. "Time to get the vacuum out, Lucy!"

Last night when we got home, and again this morning, I re-inflated the big purple ball and tossed it out to Lucy in the yard. She gets so excited when she sees that ball rolling down the hill. What a great way to entertain a boxer and a human! She loves that ball- and I love watching her chase it around. She gets into so many tangles in the process of rolling it around. I've never seen 1 dog do so many full body flips in a 10 minute period. I just wish our yard didn't slope like it does because I end up chasing it the whole way down to the bottom and then walking back up the hill with a boxer jumping up and down trying to get it away from me! Such fun! The great news is, we're both exhausted by the time we're done playing!

As if one incident involving a diamond earring and my boxer wasn't enough- we had another one last night. I was sitting on the deck playing with Lucy when she jumped up and pawed my ear. I don't know how she does it- but she knocked the earring out, and I could see it between the slats in the decking.

I had no choice but to crawl underneath the deck- which is easier said than done. The deck is about 2 1/2 feet off the ground at the highest point, and as you can imagine with all of the rain we've had- very muddy! I had to crawl through a very thorny bush to get underneath there, and I'm squatting (in the mud) and trying to make my way over to the far side of the deck (yep it would have to be 20 feet over...) when my little boxer decides that I must be playing and jumps up on back putting her paws on my shoulder. Of course, I had a white tank top on, which is white no more! I got the earring back- no damage done- can't say the same for the tank top! (It's a good thing you're so darn adorable, Lucy!)

My only question is this: why do these incidents always involve slimy brown stuff? I guess it's a good thing that I'm a country girl, hugh?

Lucy has done so well at leaving my tropical plants that we put on the deck alone, that I decided to try my luck with some colorful flowers. So far so good, but I wonder if the fact that she likes to sit there and look at them means that trouble is on the horizon? I've caught her smelling the lillies- but that's all I've caught her doing. "Good Lucy!"