Kibble in the bottom of my shoe
The most extraordinary thing is happening in our household.
It started about 3 or 4 years ago, In a very simple form and has developed into
something we have never seen before.
I quite often leave my shoes and ankle boots under a side table
and forget about them! When I go to put them on (after a while of not wearing them),
there is quite often a little ‘present’ in the bottom – nothing nasty or
unwanted, just a piece of my dogs’ kibble!
George (my JRT) has 2 sorts of dried food kibble (biscuits) in
his bowl, one he always eats first (presumably his favourite) and a slightly smaller
darker kibble. It is ALWAYS the first kibble in the boot!
It’s only in one boot – ever.
The single kibble deposit then grew in to a few kibbles in
the bottom of a boot, always the same kibble, never the smaller darker kibble,
always just one boot. We call these ‘presents’
from George, and we ‘think’ it is meant with kindness as it’s always his ‘favourite’
kibble.
Well, in the past couple of months this has now grown into
more than just kibble. I now get all sorts of debris, bits and pieces that
George has picked up off the floor and deposited in the one boot – always with
at least one piece of kibble! The latest one included a pen lid, a cocktail stock, a strand of
tinsel and a bundle of his fur/hair clearly all scavenged from dark corners the
hoover hasn’t reached! There was even a little piece of Lychee shell - we haven’t had Lychee for over a year!
In the last week this has now spread to my mothers shoes
which are kept in a completely different place to mine. Firstly a single kibble
- my mother felt so honoured to be left a George present in a show (only one
shoe!), she really was thrilled! But this morning she had her first bundle of
floor scavenges! Like mine it included furry fluff, tinsel and a kibble but she
also had a little bit of gravel and a couple of misshaped paper clips!
We now photograph all these lovely little events to keep them forever.
So, we have 2 mysteries here:
Why does he do it and what does it mean to him?
When does he do it? No one has ever seen him actually put
the stuff in the shoes!
The boots / shoes are not accessible to him when we are not
around, if we are out or overnight he can’t get to them. The rest of the time
we are with him. So when does he do it?
It is a very bizarre occurrence, I have never had a pet do
it before – the cats used to leave dead mice by the bed, some were whole others
weren’t! But never this dedication. George ‘appears’ to select items to be
placed in the shoe, put thought into it. I’m sure ‘experts’ would say that wasn’t
possible – but what do they know hey!! 😊
Do your dogs do anything like this or do something else you
can’t explain the reason why or even when?
I hope George keeps leaving us little presents in our shoes
for a long time to come – I just love it.
