I have a little dog, well, at least what I consider a little dog. She is a mix, rescued from the shelter, and weighs in at a whopping 30 pounds. Cerri is now a just a little more than a year old and brings us smiles each and every day. During the hot summer days she loves to be outside just laying in the sunshine. She soaks it up; she teaches me to just enjoy life. I have watched her chase butterflies in the field and be curious about the bee hives, but last night she out did herself. You see, yesterday we celebrated Lughnasadh.
The celebration was not at our house but at a friends. We knew we would be late and couldn't leave Cerri outside the whole evening on her lead, so we decided that it was truly time to trust her and leave her alone in the house. No crate, no restraints, just doors shut and the gate to the living room put in place. We were gone about six hours, not terribly long, but long enough for a small dog who isnt' use to the arrangement we left her with. When we pulled into the drive we didn't see her little head pop up at the door - she must be asleep? Not only was she asleep, but she was dreaming the way dogs do with her little paws moving rapidly as if chasing one of those butterflies in her mind.
However, it would not last. Her peaceful slumber was interrupted by a noise... something outside. Out of sleep she bolted, barking ferociously as she ran away to the safety of the dining room. Damned if she was going to find out what it was but she should would sound an alarm. We laughed, our opening the door had scared her to the point of hiding until she understood we were the ones making the noise. Then there was joy, mom and dad were home and she was a good dog. Outside she went to walk in the night air, Bill was with her as she wandered her domain. That's right she is queen of the lawn as long as someone is with her to make sure she is safe.
As the two of them enjoyed the outside I did a quick survey of the house that she had access to (tv room, dining room, and kitchen) to see if there was any "collateral damage" from our leaving her alone. Only one thing was disturbed: the bag of dog biscuits. It was tipped over and open with four dog biscuits strewn across the floor. The way it looked I wouldn't have been surprised to see Cerri passed out from a biscuit high, little belly bulging, and burp come from her mouth. If she had been a human teenager, friends would have been passed out with her on the couch, all of them denying that they had done anything. Oh well, the bag wasn't empty, it seemed only a few biscuits had been eaten. I picked up the few on the floor, put them away and decided that we needed a better place to keep them.
When Bill and the dog came back in it was time for bed. Cerri hopped up on the couch and nosed her way under the pillow and into the corner of the cushion. I was curious, what could be so interesting? I looked. It was a dog biscuit. She hadn't eaten them, she put one away for a midnight snack! I laughed and showed it to Bill. He laughed and joked that we should check the chair. I did. Another biscuit in the back of the cushion. She was "burying/hiding" her food around the house. We took both of stashes and watched as she became confused. Burrowing into each spot with her nose she didn't understand where her food had gone. It was hilarious.
It was now time to go to bed and upstairs I went. Cerri followed, not an unusual thing, but then it happened. She went to check on the next stash. You got it, now there were dog biscuits in the bedroom. I forgot that she has access to our room. Not one, but two hidden biscuits were found. I'm not sure if she has any other stashes in the house, but if she does we will find them eventually. So my lesson for the day is, you never know when you will need a biscuit so you should hid a lot of them throughout the house just in case you get hungry.
I love my little dog.
