Dog Gone It

We have two HUGE pecan trees and several smaller ones that I suspect are close relatives of the HUGE ones.

Lately they have been dropping LOTS of pecans...huge, yummy, buttery, sweet pecans.

I have to gather pecans at least twice a day because the dogs love to chew on them. Mostly they crack them open and leave most of the meat because they hit the bitter lining of the shells. Today I noticed that there were fewer whole pecans and more "dog cracked" pecans. However, I noted the dog cracked ones were getting cleaned out more efficiently. As I gathered my pecans, Leala (Aussie/Lab mix) and Sunny (pure Lab) "helped" by running ahead and cracking open all the pecans they could find before I could get to them.

This gave me an idea. I took our prime retriever Sunny, inside and grabbed the doggie treats. I tossed a pecan and said "bring it" (her favorite command). It took her about 5 pecans before she realized the game was "get the pecan and trade it for a treat". She was SOOOO excited. I rolled number 6 pecan across the floor when she wasn't looking and told her "find pecan". She was ecstatic and searched diligently until she found and brought me the nut, trading for a doggie treat.

Now some of you know I have trained dogs, putting several AKC titles on my dogs. The titles are all displayed with initials like CH, CD, CDX, etc.....When it comes to retrieving, Sunny is an unofficial OCD Labrador. (That is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) We usually discourage retrieving because it is such an obsession. For example, today when I took my "after lunch pasture walk", Leala and Timber (Jack Russell) found a lovely dead rat to roll on. Sunny never saw it because for the entire walk she was continuously tormenting me with her favorite deflated basketball; carrying it 15 feet in front of me, dropping it, waiting until I passed by, retrieving it and carrying it 15 feet in front of me, dropping it, waiting...you get the idea. She never even smelled the dead rat.

I was confident of her interest and ability for retrieving pecans. Sunny was so excited about our retrieving lesson that she could hardly contain herself. Unfortunately, my confidence was quickly shattered when I secretly rolled number 7 across the floor. I said "find pecan" and she engaged, tail slashing happily, nose casting back and forth, decades of hunting ancestors showing their mark. She found the pecan, ran to me, sat and promptly swallowed the whole pecan.....end of lesson.

I promise, I will let you all know how it comes out in the end.