layla: grass at sunset (Default)
Layla ([personal profile] layla) wrote2008-06-30 01:56 pm

Fun with dogs

According to urban legend, dogs can't see colors, but I'm not convinced of that. Out and about this morning, Lucky zeroed in on a bright blue Pepsi can lying in a field of weeds. It's possible that he was attracted by something else -- the shininess, maybe -- but it certainly stood out to *me*, a bright and not at all natural blue, and he was definitely going for it visually.

He picked it up and carried it back to the house. In addition to being a fossil-hunting dog, Lucky is also a trash-collecting dog. Cans and bottles are the exact right size and shape to be carried in his retriever jaws, and he's never happier than when he's carrying something. If he finds an appropriately-shaped piece of trash on our walks, he'll cheerfully carry it home for me. It's very cute.

He's also discovered the joys of gourds. Last Christmas I got a bag of gourds for decoration, but never really did anything with them, so Orion appropriated them as shooting targets. There are now gourds, riddled with bullet holes, scattered around the yard. Like Pepsi cans, they're just the right size and shape to be carried in a retriever's mouth, which means that Lucky keeps finding them and bringing them back to the house.

[identity profile] ndgmtlcd.livejournal.com 2008-07-01 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
You've got your very own biological Wall-e. If you can mate him properly and do the same with a few generations, then one day there will be no more litter in national parks and cities.

[identity profile] laylalawlor.livejournal.com 2008-07-01 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
It's really cute! And probably the only (semi) useful thing that he does.