No No Bad Dog

Rob has always liked Bonsai trees. When we lived in Maryland he took a class on trimming them and we had several on our deck. Only one survived the move to Missouri, a thornless honey locust tree.

Instead of keeping it in a pot, Rob planted it near the garage door and kept it trimmed to about three feet high. It was a pretty little tree for a while. The location proved to be unfortunate. The boy dogs saw it as the nearest object to use to relieve themselves in the morning, but the tree didn't seem to mind.

Then last year Norma Jean decided it was the perfect plant to practice her pruning skills on. Almost every day we had to chase her away from the little tree, but she would chew on it at night when we couldn't see her. This winter it looked like the tree was gone, but in the last couple weeks it's making a comeback. It's just a couple of skinny sticks with leaf buds, but Rob hopes he can bring it back. To do this he needs to protect it from the boys and Norma Jean. He put a little fence around it.

Last weekend our yard started looking like spring again. The trees are beginning to flower and Rob noticed a couple of caterpillar nests that he wanted to remove. Sydney and Mac were very interested in this procedure and watched him closely.

When Rob and I sat on the swing to watch the girls play, they became aware of the little tree inside the fence. They went to look at it and we told them "no".

Sydney wandered off to find something else to do, but Mac couldn't forget about that fence.

We both told her no and threw her ball for her, but Mac is a very determined girl.  She would glance at us to see if we were watching, then approach the tree.

 Several times we chased her away, but she was drawn back to it.

Finally, even as we shouted at her, she stuck her head thru the fencing.

Before we could react she was squeezing her body thru.

Finally she was inside and probably thought she was safe.

She didn't expect me to reach in and lift her out, snap her leash on and tell her she was a bad girl. Why do I think we'll be going thru this again soon?