Daily Dose of Cute

So, most of the time when Dudley wants to run around the backyard like a wild greyhound type person, Zelly is right there with him. But, occasionally, Zelly doesn't feel like it, and Dudley will engage in all sorts of ridiculous antics to try to get her to join in. Last week, he discovered that if he starts digging, she'll come over to investigate. At which point he takes off like a shot, hoping she'll give chase.

This is pretty amusing, except for the fact that his massive clodhoppers can dig a GINORMOUS hole in about six seconds.

(And it's not that we care so much about the state of the yard aesthetically, but neither of us wants to break an ankle walking across a yard full of holes, especially when snowfall renders them invisible.)

I managed to catch this on video over the weekend. Note, in addition to the hilarity of Dudley's goofballery and my increasingly serious pleas to knock it off with the digging already, how quickly Zelly susses out that I don't want Dudz digging and starts herding him away from his trenches. I don't know what her breed mix is, but there's some kind of amazing intuitive shepherd in there.


Video Description: Dudley runs behind some trees, futzes around for a minute, then bursts out and goes tearing around the yard, Zelda in hot pursuit. When he notices that Zelda has stopped giving chase, he stops and starts madly digging, throwing huge piles of dirt out of the hole with his huge paws. "Dudley, stop digging you stinker!" I tell him. "Dudley! You better stop digging, you little stinker!" He continues to ignore me as I walk toward him, but Zelda runs over and chases him away. He runs from one side of the yard to the other; when he stops at the hole, Zelly chases him away again. He runs to a trench he's started on the other side and begins digging. "Dudley! What are you doing?!" Zelda chases him away. He runs back and forth. He goes back to the first hole, leans in, and starts digging. "Dudley, stop digging!" I say, serious now. "Zelda, go get him!" I walk toward him. "HEY! Hey, Dudley! STOP! You're gonna dig your way all the way to the other side of the earth!" He lies down next to the hole. "All right, you just hang out there," I tell him. "I think we're gonna need a shovel."

For those who can't view video, some still shots of the Bad Boy and the Good Girl...


Dudley proudly shows off the giant hole he dug in a matter of seconds. I'm not even going to tell you how long it took me to clean the mud from his feet and belly.


In addition to being a well-behaved dog who doesn't dig giant holes in the yard, Zelly also learned how to "high-five" in about ten minutes this weekend. She learns tricks faster than I can come up with them.

Dudley and Zelda have also learned a joint trick that is redonkulously cute: When I say, "Shake together!" they both put their paws in my hand, one on top of the other. It slays me every. damn. time.