Wednesday, November 08, 2006

My Dog is Houdini, but he's no rocket scientist.

Auguste is a small wire haired dachshund. You pronounce his name the French way -
"Oh-Goosed!"
And when I let him out in the back garden he immediatly makes plans to escape. Not that I have a small garden - it's very big, has an apple orchard, several stone walls, a couple sheds, and lots of play space. But Auguste dreams of adventure. So he goes to the wire fence (It's pretty overgrown with vines and such, being built at least 30 years ago) and he noses around until he finds a chink in it. Then he digs.
Dachshunds, as everyone knows, were bred to hunt badgers, which as everyone knows, live in huge underground galleries. Badgers are the most dangerous animals for a dog to hunt because the make special tunnels into which they lure their enemies, and then they collapse the tunnel on top of them, burying them alive.
All this is just to tell you that in order to breed a dog able to dig out badgers, the breeders had to find something pretty special. So, they crossed a small terrier-type dog with Houdini. I'm not even going to imagine how they did it. But the fact is, these dogs can get out of anything. My dog's breeder informed me (before I bought Auguste) that his dog dug his way out of a cement courtyard. I didn't believe it...then.
So, I have to walk around the edge of my garden every single day and block the holes Auguste digs at the base of the fence with large rocks.
This is where I'm lucky: Houdini was no rocket scientist. Auguste goes to almost exactly the same spot each time. So, bit by bit, I'm building a stone wall in his escape hatch. He keeps trying to dig around it. But so far, I've been able to (mostly) keep him penned in.

This is where it gets funny.
I have a Labrador retriever too. She does not dig. She likes to sleep. She likes to lie on the grass and snooze. Auguste is a playful guy. He likes to chew on the Lab's ears and feet, and that drives Rusty (our Lab) crazy.
SO - Rusty has decided to help Auguste escape.
She is bigger than he is and can hook her paws over the rocks and move them. Then she sits back and lets Auguste dig. He gets loose. She goes back to her spot on the grass and lies down. Peace at last. I see Auguste is missing and run outside to catch him before he gets into too many adventures. (There are 3 chicken farms in my village, remember).

So far, I'm keeping up with Houdini. (Thank goodness they didn't cross him with a rocket scientist.)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Roflol.

Dachshunds not only get out of everything, they also get into a lot of things they're not supposed to.

FeyRhi said...

They might not have crossed Dachshunds with a rocket scientist but I think your Retriever might have been. What a clever dog. LOL

Sam said...

Bonita - I posted a photo for you!
I love the ones on your blog - your family is gorgeous!!

Gabriele - do you have a dahcshund?? LOL

Feyhri - I think you're right. She might act dumb, but she's very smart. :-)


Wayne - Rusty is cursed with Auguste - you're right.
Love your latest post, BTW!!

Stacia said...

Lol, what a great post! I wish I had a dog...:-(

Anonymous said...

LOL I love this story *g* I can just picture the retriever plotting to get rid of his nemesis .... thereby giving himself time to sleep *g*

Wynn Bexton said...

Too funny! And I love the centipede costume.