The Army Crawl

So in honor of Memorial Day last week, our dog Henry has decided to join the military. He has perfected what we like to call his "army crawl" very well and now feels that he can enter the armed forces with confidence. He passed the "squeezing under the bed" test the first day he arrived at our house a few weeks ago. Since then he has undertaken the "squeeze under the desk" move and a few others. However, his completed mission today really puts him at a higher level of soldier. He attempted and succeeded the "under the stairs squeeze". Let me explain. He disappeared downstairs to the basement and was quiet for a minute (probably making sure he was camouflaged). I look down the basement stairs to find this...


Now this picture is taken outside after I pulled it from the trashcan. First of all, I didn't even recognize what this was/or used to be. I would bet my life that it didn't even come from our house. When I showed it to Mike, he said, "oh, yeah, he probably got it from under the stairs". Well, that would make sense - if we had access to under the stairs. Ever since we refinished the basement, all we have is an access panel that you literally have to push (with opposable thumbs) to open. So, I was very puzzled and still doubted if this "thing" indeed came from our house. So I went down to inspect. Henry came with me and proceeded to chomp on the spoils of his attack - that and to try to hide the evidence.


As I looked over the situation I then realized that dog performed the ever tricky "under the stairs squeeze" here. Color me impressed.

Seriously. Did I mention that this 6 month old puppy is a mastiff/lab mix and probably at least 50 pounds by now? He also is very tall with long deer-like legs. He obviously thinks he is a little dog. Either that, or he just really takes this military training stuff seriously.

Now that he pretty much has perfected his army crawl technique with any type of furniture, I think he will proceed to the ever entertaining bug hunt tactic. Yes, we have the occasional ant or stink bug that dares to cross the soldier's path only to be promptly squashed by a very large webbed foot. Better yet he will play with his victim, throwing it up in the air with his mouth until it stops moving or he gets bored.

I can only imagine what the next army "drill" will be with our trooper. I'll be sure to let you know!