Rudy and Rio have always displayed symptoms of kleptomania, socks that disappear, a shoe brought to you lovingly when you arrive home, washing that they can pilfer as you are folding it..you name it, anything is fair game it seems!!!
Kleptomaniac tag team!!
They both go crazy trying to out do each other with their “gifts” on your homecoming, tails wagging like mad almost propelling themselves round the room!! Whatever Rudy has in his mouth he has to be side swiped by Rio til he lets go and Rio can claim the gift victory!!
Chews, bones, socks, magazines, newspapers, toys, laundry all lovingly offered albeit rather the worse for wear, warm and by now slightly damp round the edges!!
Even if I have just popped upstairs and come back down they both dash about finding things. Is this a purely Spaniel trait or do other breeds do the same??
One lunchtime this week as I ran round madly trying to get changed into DWU ( Dog Walker’s Uniform) to get Rudy and Rio out for their walk I searched high and low for a missing sock!! I knew it was in my bedroom as I had taken them off there so why couldn’t I find it?? Frustration grew as I muttered to myself about how ridiculous it was to be walking round in one sock etc etc, so finally I gave in and stomped downstairs to find a spare one only to find Rio, bless him, trotting round the front room happily with said sock draped decoratively from his mouth!!
How kind I thought as I grabbed it off him and started to put it on so he then took himself off into the hall and brought me a mud covered trainer!! “No” I bellowed so he dropped it on the carpet whereupon all the dried mud cracked and scattered everywhere!!
Finally we made it to Cleeve Hill and dodged the flooded car park. We set off and I noticed a fair amount of Golfers enjoying the sunshine. Towards the end of the walk Rio found a tennis ball some poor dog had lost and claimed it as his own. I don’t take balls out with me when I walk so to see him trotting round with the ball in his mouth made him look slightly odd but he was happy so who am I to spoil his fun??!!
I threw the ball a couple of times and both dogs chased after it and brought it back then they soon got distracted by the gorse bushes and left the ball for someone else!
A moment later as I walked towards the Golf Club which heralds the end of the walk, I heard lots of shouting from behind me. I didn’t think anything of it , just thought it was a Golfer celebrating a good shot. Well… it was a Golfer only they weren’t celebrating so much as berating me and the dogs as Rio had taken it upon himself to “liberate” a golf ball one of them had fired down the hill!!
My face burned and I felt a giggle brewing but first had to get Rio to drop the ball!! Luckily he did so immediately and bounded back to me very pleased with himself!! I was walking with Fi and Dave and Dave being a Golfer declared that it can’t have been a very good shot anyway and that actually Rio had done the guy a favour by moving it closer to it’s target!!
Yeah I could go with that so turned and waved a cheery hand at them and we walked briskly on!!! I’m sure it can’t just be my dogs that commit theses public faux pas…can it??
Hole in one??
mydailytail 