The Mysterious Case of the Missing Fruit
We all know the reputation Labradors have for their continual hunger (or is that greed?) and Ellie is no exception. A summer’s walk on the beach can be a nightmare as she is likely to go and sit and beg to anyone enjoying a picnic or an ice cream. Her soft brown eyes pleading for a morsel as she watches each crumb being bitten, sucked or chewed, licking her lips in keen anticipation as the odd drop of saliva splashes from her mouth. How embarrassing trying to pull her away, babbling excuses!
However, her greed at home takes on a slightly more devious turn. She knows she will not be fed from the table or whilst we are eating; so she will sit quietly in her bed apparently ignoring the mealtime. Admittedly she does pay particular attention to the scraps that go into the bin, but to any visitors to the house she seems to be a well mannered dog.
Until that is……our backs are turned and we leave the house. Then she springs into action, the bin is raided, and totally cleared out – we have currently bought 3 differently opening bins and she has learnt to push, pull or simply bash with her paws to open each one. She then (delightedly, I’m sure) proceeds to drag the contents out of said bin to one of her hiding places in the garden, where she licks each pot, bag, or box clean and munches stale crusts, apple cores and anything else she comes across – out of date or not, she isn’t fussy!
I am quite ashamed to confess, she has eaten the remains of a Chinese Takeaway, a bag of mouldy tortilla wraps and a packet of very old ham, to name but a few, and that’s just what we know about.
The worse thing is, she knows, oh so well, that she is being naughty. As soon as she hears the key in the front door, she is out of that dog flap and into the garden like a flash, where she hides around the corner. Or, if she doesn’t escape in time, I only have to look at her and say “oh Ellie” for her to hang her head and sorrowfully climb into her basket. However her regret only lasts for about 20 seconds and then she is up bounding about again with the audacity to revisit a stray apple core or some other rogue piece of bounty still lying around somewhere.
To remedy this, we moved the bin out of the kitchen and erected a stair gate blocking her path. Problem over…..or so we thought.
I was becoming a little vexed at the amount of fruit disappearing from the bowl – a weeks worth in a couple of days, and whilst I encourage every member of our non-too-fruity family to indulge, it is always under duress that a piece is taken. But still whole bunches of bananas, punnets of peaches and nectarines…..where were they going?
Yes, you’ve guessed it! Out into the garden to be devoured in a flurry of greed and deceit! Until that is, I made my discovery. Whole bunches of banana skins – licked clean, but still intact. From certain angles the skins looked as if they did indeed still contain their fruit, but alas no. Nectarine stones hidden in the folds of her bedding, ready for a game of fetch later that day with the children.
The fruit bowl was moved four times before finally finding a home completely out of reach of those thieving paws. It never ceases to amaze us just how high and how deep a reach Ellie has, and she’s not even a big lab. I guess the moral of the story is, where there’s a will, there’s a way….. or should that be the way to a hound’s heart is through the stomach!!
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