Sprout is Back…

Our son and daughter-in-law, the Window to the Wild folk, are busy with baby showers at the moment.

This week they took a trip out of town to party with her side of the family in Michigan.

And we got Sprout…the grand-dog…the great Pyrenees pup.  I suppose it keeps us on our toes for when we become grandparents of a girl baby!

Sprout lives most of the time outside in a pen, in an enclosure, with Simon and Lindsey’s forty-four birds…

She has now grown so much she’s too big for the tiny house and crowds the small space, when invited in for  a cuddle, in her excitement to be around fellow mammals!

Apparently she far prefers this outside life so at Footlights we rigged up a zip-line from the pavilion to a small copse of trees and attached a length of chain to it with a carabiner to accommodate her.

On her first morning I hooked her leash onto the chain with a second carabiner and she was all set to enjoy the outdoors, Footlights-Style.

Sprout4

She was free to lie on the concrete, dig holes, snooze in the shade, chase squirrels, bark at road runners, drink from her over-sized water bowl and chew on low hanging branches when she got bored.

She managed to get herself tangled around the poles…

…and whimpered, just a little, when she caught sight of me hauling river rock, tending to my garden and hanging up the washing.

Then she flopped herself down…and watched the house.

Sprout6

At least she wasn’t roaming onto neighboring properties where I’d have to go and bring her back.

When I went to bring her inside she squatted and peed the moment we left her territory and after a couple of days it dawned on me that she imagines she’s in a huge pen…

…and she won’t relieve herself inside her property lines.

Providing a place where she can patrol the borders, guard the area, enjoy the fresh air and pee whenever she wants to without me having to worry about taking her out, has rather back-fired.

Sprout7

“Ooops, you caught me napping on the job…” her eyes seem to say as she scrambles to her feet whenever I go to visit.

So much for being an outdoor dog.

Silly Pyr!

I now walk her down to the mailbox a couple of times, on her leash, to give her a little exercise to counter-act her couch potato tendencies.

For the rest of the day she beats the 104º heat by sprawling on the terra-cotta beneath the fan…

Sprout9

staying cool with the cats.

Maybe not such a Silly Pyr!

Share this:

No comments so far!

Leave a Comment