We have a tale to tell about one of our fluffy tails and the trouble Boom Boom got into, but we have to warn you—it is a nutty story.

The end of last week was quite emotional around Chez Herd by the Sea. We said good-bye to Miss Cheesy on Thursday night and spent Friday gathering supplies in the light of the growing COVID-19 storm (really hard to imagine how much has changed in the seven days since). Our job was to stay in our crates while the humans ran their errands.

Landon’s skill for extracting himself from crates is legendary. For example, he once escaped from his crate, unpacked a bag of Halloween candy (without eating a one), and hid them all around the house. And we mean everywhere. Under couch cushions. In the sheets and blankets of beds. In shoes. Pants pockets. Drawers. Cabinets. The humans found candy in surprising places for weeks. Landon was amused with himself.

Twist ties were applied to the corners of his crate. Carabineers locked the door. And still he escaped. He once slid the tray out of the bottom of his crate and slid his body through the little slit for the tray. He was nicknamed Gumby for a while before Boom Boom stuck.

Fortunately, the intervening years have added some maturity to the Boom (Sorry, we had to stop typing. Hu-Dad was laughing hysterically). He escapes less often. But when he wants out, no crate has been built that can contain him.

We blame Southern Siberian Rescue, the terrific organization that guided him from Virginia to Chez Herd. Unfortunately, he was enrolled in their prison program. Dogs were assigned to inmates to learn skills. It is true that Landon can sit quite pretty, whether you ask him to or not. Other commands have no effect. But we also suspect the prisoner trained him in the art of escape.

With that background, we go to last Friday. The Hu-Dad entered the house, tired from all of the events of the day. He walked into the dog room (aka, his study) and discovered three happy Sibes in crates…and one empty crate. Landon slinked into the room behind Hu-Dad and attempted to sneak into his crate, but he was busted.

A quick search of the house revealed nothing. The humans looked high. They looked low. And they found it. A large can of mixed nuts had been removed from a shelf, the plastic top opened, and a large quantity of nuts consumed.

The first order of business was an online search of the side effects of nuts on dogs. Fortunately, none of the ones he ate were harmful, but we expected some, well, er, aftereffects.

Landon’s diet was changed to (again, we are being delicate) lubricate the system. The first output came early Saturday morning. Around 2 am. Landon complained of a sore tummy and Hu-Dad took him outside to the yard. Landon hunched over, and produced. Hu-Dad took a bag, aimed a flashlight and…

His instant thought was the world’s smelliest Snickers bar. Except with a lot more nuts.

Production was voracious. Multiple times on Saturday. Continued on Sunday. By Monday, the slogan became “sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.”

The other dogs found the output “interesting.” As in Hu-Dad had to make sure every single reproduced nut was picked up from the yard after each “event.”

It was a long few days, but we are happy to report Landon is nut free today. And his crate has additional locks.

NOTE: Thank you everyone for all of the notes of condolence on our sweet Miss Cheesy. We appreciate them all.

We hope you are surviving the great lockdown of 2020. We are doing fine. We are fortunate to have great trails to walk, so we continue our twice a day strolls.