The Excavators

Friday was a False Alarm. Still no puppies.

On one of the Samoyed e-mail lists I'm on, we were recently discussing the holes our dogs will dig. My dogs dig holes year round. But when a girl is getting ready to have puppies they will create especially impressive ones. Caves really, not just holes. I wrote about Aliy's hole last year shortly before she had puppies. And I talked about Raven's hole just last week on her blog.

But the digging is not just confined to holes. In early Spring they also dig trenches. It is my theory that they are either following the scent or sound of the ground squirrel tunnels. These trenches can be very impressive excavations. And yes occasionally they do catch a critter. Dont' ask me how I know.

Here is what my ground looks like in a non-excavated area:


Just dead Prairie Grass and dirt this time of year.

Here is an active excavation site:

This is about 15-20 feet across and 30 feet long.

And here we have one of the more impressive trenches:


It's about 30 feet long and right below the bottom of the picture branches off into an inverted Y intersection with the two legs each about 20 feet long.

Imagine 4 acres of this.