Enter Mr Digby

By Barbara Soanes

Mr. Digby is an Old English Sheepdog who was born in New Zealand and lives in Hawaii. He is the head of the household so not much gets done unless the Digger Boo is taking part. He is now four years old and has learned numerous skills of his own training.

First task of the day is to deliver the newspaper to Dad in the bed. The Mom usually drives him to the bottom of their Road to get the paper, then, when they get back and out of the car, Digs takes the rolled up paper in his mouth and races up the stairs. Getting there depends on if he gets distracted along the way. A pair of sport shoes is usually good for a distraction. He does not however chew or rip up the paper being a devotee of the written word. Well he must be as he has never so much as chewed on a book or magazine. If it doesn't make to the bedside, it will be somewhere on the stairs waiting to be retrieved by whomever.

Then off to the kitchen to help with taking out the garbage. He knocks down the waste bin and worries at the liner until it comes free. This done, he then proceeds to drag it to the garage for transport to the transfer station. The luck here is if he manages to grab the top of the plastic bag where in most of the garbage remains in the bag till it gets to the garage. The not so lucky help is if he gets the plastic liner any where else as this results in a trail of refuse from the kitchen through three rooms to the garage. This is all done at neck breaking speed as the chores he accomplishes each day are numerous.

After a fast lap up of water from his bowl, he is then away to the bedroom to assist make the bed. This entails his interpretation of fluffing the pillows by tossing them high in the air. Where they land is not all important as he can bound all over them to be sure not one dust particle remains, some of the times feathers too. Then it is off to the wash with Dad's underwear and socks. Sometimes they make it and sometimes not. There has to be a private cache someplace in the house and to be honest we have recovered one under a sofa in the television room and then another in his toy basket, but there is still a lot missing. Folding up sheets is a particular accomplishment as first a nest must be made by snapping up any section of sheet and racing in little circles until a nice tight wad has been accomplished.

Whew, he is so busy. But wait, the Mom and Dad are having breakfast so it's off at a run for some scrambled egg, maybe. Just look cute with your head on one side and that's a winner. Oh well, time for a quick nap before he helps with a gardening project, but that's for next time. - 32401

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