Giving the dog a bone...

We were wondering what happened to Dasher's bone. We gave him this huge hokin' steamship round one day and he sat happily on the front porch knawing away. About an hour later, we realized he was just relaxing in the sun... no bone to be found!

How could this huge thing have disappeared in one hour? It was impossible! We figured another dog or curious kid came by and took it... although the fact that we heard no growling or other disturbance was a little unusual.

A few weeks later we got him another bone. Same size... huge. This time, we kept an eye on him. We watching him drag it to different areas of the yard. But, we had to go to dinner. We figured he'd be safe in the backyard with the bone... no other dogs... no kids.

But wouldn't you know it, the bone disappeared once again. This time, however, we had evidence. A few little smudges of dirt on his nose and paws told the story. He had buried it!

"What in the world?", we said. Why is Dasher buying his bones? Do dogs even do that anymore? Apparently so. This article from PetPlace.com confirms this natural instinct:

Although dogs have been around for millions of years, they have only been domesticated for a few thousand years, and they spent a lot of time developing behaviors that helped them to survive. Being carnivores, dogs might sometimes kill a prey animal large enough to feed the entire pack, like a moose or a mammoth. Alternatively, when small prey animals were abundant , they might kill many of these bite-sized creatures. Either way, they often found themselves with more food than they could eat at once. However, they could never be sure when they would be able to find and kill another prey, and much time could pass – sometimes weeks – without them finding another meal. So to be on the safe side, they carried the bones, which were filled with nutrient-rich marrow, back to their lair, and buried them nearby. When food was scarce, they could always rely on the bones to keep them fed.

The article concludes with the question: "So, why do dogs bury bones in the ground? Because it's in their nature."

We've since discovered his secret burying place: a small corner of the garden beneath a pile of leaves. I don't want to disturb it to see if both bones are resting there, lest he choose another place in the yard, but it will be inconvenient when we plant our vegetables this year. Perhaps what he really needs is his own lair. We'll have to look into that...

Rest In Peace, Sweet One

Just a follow up to my post from earlier this summer, Irresistable Pets, our sweet little Pumpkin-cat crossed over to cat heaven in September of last year. Pumpkin was a surprise birthday present from my husband in 1995 when we lived in San Francisco. We thought our big baby Johnny Walker Black (our first pet we acquired in Key West in 1994, who also passed away 3 years ago from liver failure, of all things) needed a friend to play with. They were indeed the best of friends, often heard playing "Cat-Olympics" in the middle of the night.

We are blessed to still have Paprika and Dasher but miss both Pumpkin and Johnny Black terribly. We are certain they are happily playing Cat-Olympics once again somewhere in the vast expance of the universe.

Irresistable Pets... that drive me crazy!

Don't get me wrong, I love my pets. They are a huge part of our little world. Our dog, Dasher, is the such a mild-mannered, sweet and intelligent creature. Our 2 cats, Pumpkin and Paprika are one-of-a-kind: funny, devoted and loving.

But... dang if those animals don't drive me crazy sometimes!

It was a Sunday morning and I purposely woke up early to have a little me-time. To sit in the quiet of early dawn, enjoy my coffee and do a little journal writing. Dasher and Pumpkin followed me out to the kitchen and went straight to the back door so that I could let them out, which I did. I went back to making the coffee. Dasher finished his little morning business and wanted back in. I let him in..., Pumpkin didn't follow. No problem - I made myself comfortable on the chair and waited for the coffee.

But then I hear Paprika, who is usually out all night, at the front door mewing to come back in. I go to get her and Dasher follows - he wants out the front door to see whats going on just as Paprika comes in. I let him out, pour a cup of coffee and get comfortable on the chair.

Then I hear Pumpkin at the back door and notice that Paprika is sitting by the hallway door, which I kept closed so as not to disturb the sleeping kids from their wild pillow-fighting, ice-cream eating, movie-watching sleepover. So I let Pumpkin in the back door and Paprika down the hallway just as Dasher wants back in the front door. Good grief. I refresh my coffee and have a seat. Again.

But then, Pumpkin decides she wants down the hallway, too. So, I get up to open the door. Dasher follows. Apparently he wanted to be down the hallway this whole time! Hallway door is closed. I settle in. Again.

I'm enjoying my coffee and writing away when I decide that a crunchy granola bar would be very tasty, so I open one. The animals hear the crinkle of the wrapper and come racing down the hallway in a pack (I should note that the hallway door is a bi-fold which they can open by themselves from the inside.) Dasher sniffs and is not interested in granola, he'd rather chase squirrels, which he decides to do at that exact moment and goes to stand by the back door. Pumpkin and Paprika, while not necessarily interested in granola, decide that I might pull out something more interesting, so one plops down at my feet while the other settles on the side of the armchair and waits. I get back up to let Dasher outside and Paprika decides that's a fine idea as well, so she follows. Pumpkin decides that she wants to be nowhere else except sitting right down in the folds of my journal. Good grief!

But what would I do without my little sweeties to make life interesting! I did finally get everyone settled and had a very relaxing morning before the household awoke and our busy day began.

See more pictures of Dasher on this post from last year: "Ode to my Dog"