Ham Bone

We finished off a huge smoked ham, and saved the bone for Finn. We knew we didn't want him eating it inside, because it would end up everywhere, and there was still quite a bit of meat on the bone.

Yesterday we were working in the yard, and gave Finn the bone outside. He immediately headed for the door to go inside. I shut it before he could get in, and he retired to the grass to enjoy his treat. Off and on during the day, I checked on him. He methodically chewed the bone for a couple of hours, then it disappeared. I looked around, and saw where he had buried it in the mulch.

Burying things is a totally instinctive behavior, but instinct can't do it all. We had never seen Finn actually dig, but he would use his nose to cover things up. We find things in the house all the time, under his blanket, or bed, or pushed in a corner of the carpet. We have watched him several times pushing the carpet with his nose to bury something. At least with the mulch, the bone actually got buried.

We were pleased, Finn got to do normal doggy things, chewing a bone, burying, and our carpet didn't suffer. Everybody wins.

Today I got home from work to find bits of the bone all over the carpet in front of the fireplace. We had been leaving the door to the back yard open during the day for Finn, so he could go out when he wanted. He had buried the bone, waited until everyone left today, then went outside, dug up his bone, and brought it inside to eat where he wanted to all along.

Wolfhounds have a quiet, clever intelligence, and a wicked sense of humor.