Krispy - The Outdoor Girl

Krispy’s first summer was fraught with concern last year about her desire to “bust loose.” That was then, this is now. Having gotten the Krispized fence in place (and clearly doing its job), we are both decidedly more comfortable with her outdoor time. If she had her way she’d be outside from dawn to midnight. But that’s a little too extensive for me. Can you tell from her expression?

Then there’s that look she gets when she suspects I’m going to pick her up to bring her inside. See:

It turns into an expression of “I think I’ll move away so you can’t reach me.”

And if she does wiggle away too far, she has excellent hiding spots that are exceedingly difficult for me to reach her. But it’s rare she actually hides from me. Ninety-nine percent of the time when I call her outside she comes running like she’s running the Preakness at top speed. It’s quite impressive to watch. One day I’ll get a picture of it, but it’ll be a complete blur without a stop-motion camera!

As soon as the neighbor boy gets out his basketball, Krispy is off on a barking jag. This isn’t too bad for anyone since her vocal chords were clipped by the breeder, but I always worry, so I bring her in the house when they’re shooting hoops.

She’s also learned to jump up on my swiveling armchair in front of the living room window to view what’s outside (usually me!). During these times when she wants out or is waiting for me to come in the house she does a lovely job of adding doggie nose marks to the living room window and the glass in my French doors. You know a dachshund lives here because all the marks on the glass are no higher than 12” to 18” off the floor!

While Mr. Quincy was here visiting recently there was a rare moment when he didn’t object to sharing the sofa space with Emily. Amazingly they maintained the lion lying down with the lambs pose for quite some time, allowing me to slip off the couch for my camera.

You may be wondering where there was room for me, but they did a nice job of squashing together so there was room for me. Quincy is a bit hard to see here since it was so dark, but he’s on the left.

I suspect Mr. Q introduced Krispy to yet another fine tradition in dachshund-dom: the dig. She wasn’t a digger when I got her, but it’s sure in their genes, no doubt. It started at first with hiding under foliage without too much actual earth digging. Quincy, on the other hand, can be fond of the dig as entertainment.

Krispy graduated to minor digs in the garden, which didn’t bother me too much, as I could easily fill in. She seemed to like the holes as cool spaces to lie down in on hot days. She didn’t dig up or destroy plants or flowers, so I gave her lots of leeway.

Recently, during another Quincy visit, she found a new place at the bottom of one of my olive trees to put her paws and claws to work. Quincy helped a bit, but it was mainly her effort. Take a look:

You can see how deep it is from her completely submerged rear end as she dug out the front of the hole.

Then she had to get a better working angle.

And finally…rest. So much work digging these holes!

I have since refilled this hole twice. I suspect I’ll have to do the same at least twice more before the rains put a halt to her efforts! The neighboring Euonymus and Kapphir lily plants can’t be too happy. But their roots should recover over the winter.

Unfortunately, during the winter a certain sunbather will have to give up her warm spot out front. It will be much too cold for this activity:

It's Raining! It's Pouring! Why Do I Have to Wear This Coat?

I had thought I'd already posted these pics here, but I forgot after I posted them on Facebook a week ago. Here is Miss Krispy Kreme in her lovely Burberry Coat for the rain:

This photo was not taken today as it poured and poured today. I got Miss KK to model her hand-me-down (from Quincy) coat on a nice, sunny day a few weeks ago. Here's another view:

At first she found the coat a bit awkward. It's a bit large and the portion around her shoulders hangs low hitting her legs. She thought it made it difficult to go up and down steps, but she's since decided she can maneuver without help up and down the stairs while wearing the coat. And since dachshunds really don't seem too fond of rain, this is a big help when it's coming down by the bucket-load.

Today we discovered a new Krispy Idiosyncrasy. (There are so many!) With pouring rain from dawn until after 4pm, we had no choice but to take care of business while the water streamed down from the sky. As we walked out and got closer and closer to the street where she prefers to explore, roll in the grass and do her business, she stopped in her tracks to study the new sight in front of her that was perplexing:

Our neighbor had attached purple balloons, which were waving wildly in the wind and rain, to the street sign post for their engagement party. The balloons were batting about in the winter weather which Krispy found to be most confusing. She couldn't tell if they were animate or inanimate objects. She kept pacing side to side trying to make out this curious vision. It was a bit like the vacuum cleaner or lawn mower effect: Were they friend or foe? Ultimately I convinced her to walk the other way down the sidewalk as we were getting drenched and I wasn't seeing any action on the purpose for our walk.

Who knew balloons would provoke such a reaction?! Thankfully, on balloonless days that are dry, she gets to enjoy the yard a bit more. Here is one of her favorite spots:

This corner is closest to the neighbor who plays basketball and other people action, so she's frequently running back and forth barking, trying to create quite a row from her post. Thus, she's managed to displace a large portion of the mulch, exposing the irrigation line. But she loves it there, so I let it be. When it's quiet, she'll nap there, all well with the world.