I don't know why Farmer H just can't listen to the voice of reason. Which of course you know is MY voice! I actually have some common sense. Ideas that are practical.
For example, back when my Sweet, Sweet Juno went over the Rainbow Bridge to live on a big farm upstate... I told Farmer H that he should dump out the bedding in her doghouse that sits by the kitchen door, in an alcove out of the wind. I figured Jack might start sleeping in it, rather than in a hollow he dug out of a haybale over on Shackytown Boulevard, by the old goat pen.
Juno had not been sleeping in her house as her health declined. She had some trouble getting around, leaking pee sometimes. So I suppose she abandoned her cedar shavings, and moved into one of the big plastic doghouses on the opposite end of the porch, outside our bedroom. Both dogs sometimes went to those houses, and had the shavings all scratched out between them. It used to annoy Farmer H. They'd lie on the pile of shavings, rather than in the houses, heh, heh.
It's been over a year now. Whatever remains in Juno's house has definitely dried out, but I imagine it might still contain some of her scent. I told Farmer H again, right after he let Scarlett loose for the final time, that she might use that house if he cleaned it out.
Well. Scarlett wanted nothing to do with any kind of house at that time, having just gained her freedom, not wanting to be trapped again. But over her first winter, she used a doghouse by the bedroom, one of which Farmer H had used in the yard for her when she was tethered there.
Anyhoo... a couple mornings ago, I heard a terrible commotion outside the kitchen door. I figured it must be Scarlett, pawing at the doormat, getting ready to lie down. When I left for town, I saw a bunch of blue crumbly stuff there. Which I presumed to be insulation from inside Juno's house.
Saturday morning, sitting on the short couch talking to Farmer H before he left for his SUS2 (Storage Unit Store 2), we heard that commotion again.
"It's something in Juno's old house, I'm pretty sure. Probably Scarlett!"
Farmer H went to look. I did not hear him speak. But he returned and said it WAS Scarlett.
"See? It's getting cooler overnight. I bet she'd use that house if you'd get Juno's old pee out of it. You just dump it off the porch. I don't know the big deal. I think Scarlett's trying to dig it out."
"That insulation is on the walls! The pee wouldn't be on the walls!"
Huh. I don't know how insulation repels pee that might be along the bottom of the walls. But I guess I'll take Farmer H's word for that. I still don't know why he won't just tip that doghouse on its door, then sweep the shavings off the back porch.
I guess it makes too much sense. Better to keep an unused doghouse outside the kitchen door, with cardboard boxes stacked on top that he's been meaning to put on his burn pile.
I think that would make a good house for Scarlett, and Jack would probably join her in there. Jack and Juno were pals, but didn't sleep in the same house. Jack follows Scarlett around like a lost puppy, and will lie down right next to her on the porch. She tolerates him pretty well, unless food is involved. I'm going to keep WAH-WAH-ing at Farmer H until he gets that house ready for habitation.
Meanwhile, I've also got to persuade him that he's putting out too much food again, or not buying the kind they like.
With your winter soon coming on I bet Scarlett would love a clean snug place to sleep and having Jack in there with her they would be warmer. Add my voice to yours each time you remind Farmer H the dogs need a safe warm sleeping place before the colder weather comes.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
DeleteThat's what I'm thinking. This doghouse was built by Farmer H for our other dog, Poor Dumb Ann, the black german shepherd. It's sturdy and insulated (or WAS).
Anyhoo... we heard Scarlett digging again this morning, and I once again asked Farmer H to clean out that doghouse for her. He immediately started arguing that "It's INSULATION, HM, on the WALLS! I can't pry the insulation off the walls!!!"
Which was not at all what I've been asking him to do. Just dump out the shavings (and probably accumulated bones and skulls [Juno was a hoarder] in there), and put in new cedar shavings.
But it's easier to fight with me than provide a clean house for a dog who ADORES him...
Next time The Pony comes to visit maybe he could do it?
ReplyDeleteRiver,
DeleteYes. It's "just" a matter of taking the cardboard boxes off the top where they are stacked, then turning the doghouse 90 degrees so the door faces the railing, and tipping it onto the door so everything falls out. Then turn it back over, put it back in position, and sweep the stuff through the railings.
My balance is not good, and that sturdy wooden doghouse with a shingled roof is heavy. The Pony would have no problems, though. Hopefully he comes for a visit before the weather gets very cold! If Farmer H still has cedar shavings left in a bag, The Pony could also put that inside.