A Little Bit of Bone Mischief

It’s been an interesting few days at our house. We gave Boo and Pence each another bone on Wednesday, and their pack dog instincts definitely came out! You may recall similar events from back in the late fall/early winter that we talked about in a previous newsletter.

The bones are messy, so we try to give them to the dogs outside when it’s a nice day. I took the dogs outside and unwrapped the bones. I had them in a bag while transporting them through the house to try not to make a trail of crumbs. Outside, I sat the bag on the grass. The dogs were interested in the smells, but were polite doggos and didn’t try to take the bones out.

I pulled a bone out, and Boo immediately grabbed it and ran off to begin chewing on it. Pence was pacing, scared of the plastic bag blowing around the yard. I gave Pence her bone. She initially carried it off, but laid it in the grass and didn’t seem very interested in it. Maybe still afraid the plastic bag was going to attack her.

After a few minutes of chewing, Boo decided to bury his bone and save it for later. He started digging in the corner of the fence, placed the bone in the freshly dug hole, and used his snout to push dirt over it and bury it. He would look over his shoulder to make sure no one was seeing where his secret hiding spot (out in the open where everyone could see him) was.

Pence continued ignoring her bone, but ate a small piece that fell off of Boo’s in the middle of the yard. She tried a couple times to bring her bone inside, but I kept telling her it was an outdoor only bone. She eventually gave up and came back inside without it.

About a half hour later, the dogs wanted outside again. Boo immediately tried to steal Pence’s unburied bone, but I caught him and made him give it back to her. She picked it up and moved it to a different spot in the yard, but still seemed disinterested.

Since I would not let Boo have Pence’s bone, he decided to dig his back up and gnaw on it again. While he was doing this, Pence looked sad that she didn’t have her bone inside. I felt bad, so I covered her couch in a towel, and opted to let her chew on the bone on the towel. I thought she would be happy this way. Nope. She laid beside the bone for about 30 minutes and refused to touch it. I put the bone back in the bag and decided to try it again with her another day.

After more gnawing, Boo decided to bury his bone again and come back inside. I can’t even really say he buried it, because I could see it laying on the dirt, barely covered across the yard. Good effort buddy.

Go figure, about a half hour later again, Boo wanted back outside. Boo immediately grabbed his half-buried bone. This time, he didn’t chew on it, but he moved it to yet a third spot in the yard and began digging again. Clearly he was not content with his prior hiding spot.

I needed to leave the house, and called for Boo to come back inside. It took him a minute to come, as he hadn’t finished his masterpiece yet. When he got to the back door, his paws were caked in mud. Of course, he would dig in the only muddy spot in the yard.

I wiped all his paws off, and he leaned up to lick my cheek. That’s when I noticed a big pile of mud, I kid you not it was probably an inch thick and an inch tall, hanging off the tip of his snout. Before I could reach up to wipe the mud off, he sneezed and the mud flew EVERYWHERE across the living room! He seemed pretty proud of himself.

When we returned home that evening, Pence seemed very excited and wanted her bone. Riley gave it to her outside, and she finally started chewing on it! We left her alone to work on her bone for a while.

Thursday morning, the dogs wanted back outside right away and bee lined it for their bones. They laid out in the yard, gnawing for quite a while. When they were finished, both bones disappeared. Yay, more holes in the yard lol.

They continued wanting in and out, taking a few bites off the bones and moving them to a new hiding spot each time. They’re definitely taking longer to eat these bones than the previous ones. Perhaps they’re having fun playing keep away from each other.

A few times, Boo has taken Pence’s bone while she wasn’t looking, and Pence is too polite to take it back from him. We feel bad though, so we take it from him and give it back to her to be fair.

It’ll be interesting to see if these charades continue, or if they will end up eating the bones soon. Stay tuned!

[PREMIUM VIDEO] Video of Boo and Pence and Their Bone Mischief

Subscribe to The Urban Mushers + to read the rest.