Policing up the Backyard

5/3/2016

This morning while I was on my daily "p&p (pee and poo) duty in the backyard, I noticed quite a large pile of trash in a corner.  Since I was in my slippers, and the ground was muddy, I didn't venture past the concrete steps.  Later today, I will put on my outside Crocs and pick up the trash that Maggie has accumulated.
 
What I could see was the contents of Jeff's lunch box from Friday, when I had carelessly left in on the floor in the kitchen.  I found a paper plate, torn paper from a cookie bar, as well as a variety of other things.

Years ago, we had a lab named Suzie.  As a young dog, she wandered away in a snowstorm and she was gone long enough that we feared we would never see her again.  Eventually, the humane society found her under someone's deck and returned her to us.  Trouble was, Suzie was never the same again.  If she suspected there was some food (hard candy) in the buffet drawer, she would use her teeth and pull the drawer open!

Cell phone cases?  No problem for her.  She would take them outside and chew through the wrapper, which generally resulted in the cases no longer usable.  We could literally leave nothing to chance.  She would cruise the kitchen counter, and would take what she could reach.  Her muddy paws on the kitchen counter occasionally, spoke to how motivated she was at getting food.  

Apparently, while living under someone's deck, she would go out on trash day and dump all the cans over scrounging for food.  Unfortunately, that instinct for survival never left her, which made her a difficult dog to live with.  She would even tear into Christmas presents if she thought there was something inside that she could eat!

When Scott build his house on acreage, he was good enough to take Suzie to live with him.  She died peacefully last year.   

When we go to bed at night, Maggie comes upstairs with us, but then sneaks back downstairs to "patrol" the kitchen and den looking for something to eat!

P