As noted in prior posts, I have 2 young Great Pyrenees in the group who are beautiful, kind, loving, happy, and playful girls.  They always have a smile on their face, are affectionate and full of life, enjoying each and every day.  They always bring me huge smiles and persistent wags of their tails, showing me how irrisistible they are by flaunting charm.  Obviously, it’s impossible not to love them, hug them, and kiss all over them. Obviously it’s hard to get angry at such cute creatures.

The girls are typical, active and rambunctious puppies, playing the day away, getting into things, and being silly. As a result, they have added flare to each day since they arrived…and even more so lately.  For you see, they have found new ways to entertain themselves, courtesy of the storage shed.  Now, mind you, I’ve moved into an old home, which needs things upgraded, needs a few repairs, grass planted, paint, and such and so forth.  Being an old house lover, and living in an older home in TN, I have aquired a vast array of handyman items.  I have more tools than most men, paint cans, stain cans, wood filler, this sealant or that sealant, paint brushes, etc.  In fact, I even have 4 ladders.  I face the old home fearless, determined to make it solid, quaint and cozy.

As many know, one aspect of older homes is the lack of storage…”vintage” homes are not blessed with walk in closets, fancy garages, and places to put large items, messy items, and more.  I was fortunate with this home, however, to have a darling old brick well house, in great shape, that stores some things, and a rickety old, yet solid garage, that will one day be a decorative treasure once I’m through with it, and worth (undoubtedly) millions with it’s new paint job, vintage gargage and coca cola signs, etc.  However, right now it’s still rather unattractive, and sadly, has no door.  This really wasn’t a concern of mine b/c I thought it a great place for the dogs to relax for shelter if they so chose to remain outdoors vs. come inside (a common pyr trait since they…*ahem*…”work”).  To boot, it gave me extra storage places for silly things like tools and paint brushes.

For things that I didn’t immediately need, I placed them out in the shed.  Naturally, nothing dangerous to the dogs, mind you, but just odds and ends that I’d find a place for later.  Tucked on the shelf/table thingie (what it is exactly, I can’t be certain), in their boxes, put away for safe keeping, uninviting to the dogs.  Or so I thought….

I’ve been tampering with the small area the past week, dog proofing it…or attempting to dog proof it…since I realized how intrigued the pups are by such things, as well as quite skillful in obtaining them.  The puppies tend to find thrill in pulling the largest box off the shelf/table thingie, and, naturally, digging out all the goodies inside, finishing their efforts with a nice fromp in the yard with said goodies.  They’ve shown me their skills in several ways by presenting me with a brush, a few cans they couldn’t get open but had a blast carrying around as they dangled like a candy necklace from their mouths, paint rollers, cedar chips (albeit provided for their comfy-ness, if they so chose…which they obviously did), and more.  I have to say, that this has been extreme fun for them, yet quite a bit of work for me. Thankful that while I was wise enough to not place anything out there that could potentially harm them, I still did not predict suddenly aquiring puppies who required me to “re”-camaflauge items, nor their expertise in distinguishing which boxes held the most novelties, nor the fact that they would find such lavish toys in my handyman items.  I suppose anyone and everyone knows that a dog can find pleasure in the most simple things, as do I.  However, I am astounded at the thrill and proficiency they have in placing such items appropriately, so that they become sort of decorative lawn ornaments.  Nor did I predict that they’d draft my “good children” to join in their naughty ways.

I say these things as if I have never worked with dogs or puppies of any kind.  Let me reassure you, however, that they always present to you, and inevitably teach you, something new on a daily basis.  Just when you think you have it down pat, you are presented with a new lesson in the life of dogs and/or puppies…such as these two darlings have done with me.  I was certain that I’d placed things with perfection, so that nobody would even know they were there, let alone, desire to get into them.  Perhaps I underestimated the Great Pyrenees puppy’s mind…I suppose I did…me and all of my “expertise.”  However, that being said, children will, indeed, be children.

Yet with all of the extra work I’ve had to do as a result, I feel certain that they, by no means, meant to be disobedient…after all, they are sweet, loving, innocent rescue puppies who have lived a hard life prior to their arrival at Miss Alli’s, and never, ever, EVER would they consider doing something naughty.  We all know, of course, that this is true, don’t we?  Precious souls like theirs being fiendish?  Perish the thought! Instead, they’d simply heard me complain of all I had to do, and insisted on getting me on my way to accomplishment via their assistance.  Certainly…that had to be the reason.  For as a result, I found a few things I was looking for, organized some others better than before, planted a little grass and cozied up some rest areas for the critters. I even provided the dogs with some joy…and after all, isn’t that what it’s really all about?

*NOTE: No animals were harmed by these puppy antics, nor potentially faced with harm from shed items or items turned “toys.”