Tough Guy

 

This little dog is a manly man. He guards his outdoor kennel run from snakes and rats and other terrors...dispatches them summarily and sometimes even eats them. (But only in summer, as he is not exactly furry.)

And then there was that chicken incident. He doesn't like us to talk about it but, still, it was pretty bad.

Of course he does get sick as stink any time he eats his kills, but the toughness remains indisputable. 

If someone comes to the door, his barks, if kind of high-pitched for Dogzilla, are relentless and unstoppable.

However, he has a dirty little secret, and meanie that I am, I am going to tell you about it.

He is terrified of his toy box. It is just a small cardboard box, not even chin-high to HIM !!! It is kept in the pantry, heaped with old toys Jill left behind, his own squeaky balls that glow until he kills their innards, and assorted stuffed things ranging from a beaver to a shark with a flamingo wrapped around it, plus knotted ropes and rubber bones. He loves them all.

Every morning when he has free time after the morning dog walk he creeps into the pantry and nudges at the box. If it moves he bolts. Since he nudged it, of course it moves. He trots urgently around the kitchen table in high dudgeon, outraged that some witch put all his toys in there and he can't get them out without being assaulted. (I love that rocking tough terrier gait he has. He thinks he is a Bull Terrier, even if he is wrong.) 

Then he goes back into the pantry for another nudge.

Eventually he gets over it, digs into the goodies...very carefully, so as not to disturb THE BOX... and fetches out toy after toy. We play a bit, there are pets and treats, then he goes back in his crate for a while. (Because he relentlessly eats everything he finds and destroys anything he can't swallow, supervision is a big part of his life.)

And wouldn't you know it? While he is incarcerated, that witch puts all those toys back into the dreaded box.

Then the next play time we do it all again.