Bad Dog Pearl.

Poor Pearl. She thinks her name is Bad Dog Pearl. Every time I go out the door, I find something else she has destroyed. If I have ever touched it, she thinks it is hers, my gloves in particular. Even if I have pruned a branch and thrown it on the ground she creeps in and grabs it and retires to a comfortable spot to chew on it. In the rare case that I actually catch her doing something naughty, I admonish her with a "Bad Dog". If I don't actually catch her I count to ten, tell myself she is a puppy and that she will grow out of it.

I have been gardening, and not too long ago I planted potatoes in one of our raised beds. Yesterday, I was adding a new perennial bed in front of the raised bed garden and saw THIS.

From Bad Dog Pearl!

My potato bed. With one corner DUG UP. I called Pearl to confront her, because Daisy is not generally a digger.

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Still ran Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--always hungry, grinning like a rat-trap, never getting nearer, never getting farther,--ran after Kangaroo. Note the very muddy forelegs. Hmmm. Suspicious.

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Me: "Pearl, did you do this?"
Pearl: "No way!! How could you accuse me of such a thing?"

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Me: "Are you sure?" "Your paws are very muddy."
Pearl: "I promise! I am wounded by your lack of trust in me."

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Pearl: "I think Daisy did it!"

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Daisy: My legs are pristinely clean. I cannot say they are spotless. I would never stoop to digging in the dirt. 'Humph!' Just 'Humph!' and no more. Like the camel.

Pearl: "DAISY did it- I am sure of it!"

From Bad Dog Pearl!

(No caption needed here)**

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Me: (looking at Pearl, eyebrow raised, hands on hips.)"Wellll?"
Pearl: "Umm, maybe I did dig just a little.....but the dirt was so soft and wonderfully friable!"

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Me: (still looking at Pearl, eyebrow raised, hands on hips.)
Pearl: "I am really, really, terribly sorry." "Honest."

From Bad Dog Pearl!

Pearl: "Am I forgiven now?"
Me: (exasperated sigh, smile) "Good dog, Pearl."

** No animals were harmed in the making of this post. Believe it or not, this is their daily ritual of chasing each other back and forth across the yard "playfighting" and teeth rarely make contact.