Dogs and kids destroy things that are precious to us and we may get angry but we forgive. Shadow’s been running to the construction site next to our driveway to visit with friends of ours who are building a house. She loves the men working there but gives us a fright when we can’t find her – and last week, the neighbors down the road showed up with her on the end of a leash, claiming she’d been across the street nosing around someone’s property. So her days off leash while John mows the lawn are over, at least for now.
We’ve taken to tying her up on the front porch. It’s shady, cool, and she can watch us as we work in the garden. John ate his breakfast on the porch this morning and left Shadow tied there.
He came back an hour later to find that she’d dug herself a nice little hole in the dirt. Problem is, the hole was in my flower bed, and she’d rolled her 70+ pound self right onto my Heuchera “Palace Purple.”
I’d planted those there because they reminded me of my mother! She too had planted Coral Bells along the entrance path into our tiny backyard garden. I loved to pick the flowers as a child. They remind me of her. I’d placed them specifically in that spot in her honor, and placed the angel statue there too.
Argh…..John was afraid to show me the smashed and broken plants. But he did. He said, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is you can see your angel statue really well now!” The bad news was delivered by handing me half of the Purple Palace plant like a bouquet of flowers.
I took the bashed stems and stuck them into the moist soil. Let’s see if they grow.
In the meantime, Shadow is giving me a wide berth….John was surprised at how calm I actually was, but honestly, can I really yell at her? I wasn’t there to teach her not to dig in the dirt.
It reminds me of times when I was a kid and did really bad stuff. Like the time I glued (not taped) my coloring book pictures of Donald Duck to the wood paneling in the basement play room.
The day I sold my dad’s house, there were still two white ovals on the paneling from where the paper had stuck. Over 25 years later!
So really, how can I yell at my big, hairy, sweet and dumb beast?
Oh man. I hope the plants take. You certainly need a separate dog area if you aren’t with her. All the best.
A person’s joy could easily be another person’s sorrow. It would be best not to mix the two taste; the sweetness of joy and the bitterness of sorrow. We can never tell what the mixture would be…. a real tantrum i guess.
~bangchik
Bangchik, you are a philosopher!
Gardener friend on Sherlock Street, you should see the area. I’ve got Palace Purple leaves scattered all over the place. Sigh. I just can’t get really mad at this dog. She did, after all, throw herself between me and a bear last week!