Darcy the Digger

Darcy's inner terrier is beginning to show. She's started digging. This morning we caught her in the act of trying to tunnel under the prison wall fence! (youtube)

Duncan has never been interested in digging. Kerry would occasionally dig to bury her precious rawhides – in imaginary indoor dirt or Erin's boots as a puppy, gardens as she got older – but she wasn't really a digger either. But Darcy has scritched small holes in the yard from the start, and seems to be getting bigger ideas.

She's been temporarily foiled by a couple of strategically-placed stones, but we're going to have to keep an eye on this girl!

Ghostbuster!

It's been two months since Darcy moved in, and on the whole she finds the new home satisfactory. Food and treats are dispensed regularly, Duncan is usually willing to play (when he's not fed up with having his tail chewed), and the humans are doing well at getting trained. There's the occasional downside – yesterday was bath day, for example – but on the whole, life is good.

But last night, she discovered a BIG PROBLEM. This place is haunted! There's a GHOST in the family room! Can you see it?

Right there, in the middle of the sliding door, just below that brightly lit patch of wall. It's a ghost puppy! Head down, tail up, glaring at Darcy.

But not to worry – she scared it away:

Mom turned on the outside light just to check, and sure enough, Darcy's barking had made it disappear!

The Art Thief

When Duncan was a puppy, he learned very quickly that he could train us to use the "Trade" procedure he was taught at school. He simply stole things and held them for ransom! Underwear was best, of course, with socks a close second. But if nothing better was available, he'd even steal pebbles. He's much better than he used to be, but not entirely reformed...

And now it begins again...

Little Miss Darcy was apprehended this morning trotting down the hall with a stolen painting. Her taste in art is still a bit lacking; she pinched an old and not-very-good value study from a pile of canvases waiting to be painted over and reused. Or maybe she has excellent taste and felt it should be destroyed?

At least an art thief is a classier thing to have in the family than an underwear thief. 

Toys – and Not-Toys

I had a random assortment of photos and videos of Darcy playing that haven't been used on the blog yet, so I've collected them here. They're all pre-Christmas, so she looks tiny!

She plays a lot with her small toys, of course – stuffed toys, chewy toys, etc. But she has some bigger "outside" toys that she also enjoys. Like her basketball:

... the tunnel (which is a collapsible leaf barrel with the bottom cut out):

... and her hula hoop. She likes me to throw it so it rolls along the ground; she loves to chase and catch it. Sometimes she runs inside it like in the video, sometimes she pushes it along in front of her, and once she actually managed to run along for a short distance straddling it. She looked a bit like she was on a hamster wheel!

But she also love her not-toys. Things like sticks (which, of course, Duncan also loves):

... and Tim's cups:

That embarrassing moment when your face gets stuck in your cup!

... empty carbonated water bottles:

... and of course, the always-popular boxes of all sizes and shapes:

Happy New Year!

Two slightly soggy dogs sharing one small chewy toy!