One of our German Boxer boys, Sabiye, came with me on a berry picking walk yesterday. As I picked the juicy red wild raspberries and dark blue "black caps", I was transported back to an earlier time, another place, "BB" (Before Boxers). I picked berries then as well, with two dogs at my side, Liebchen, my Miniature Schnauzer, and Ellie, my Brittany. Ellie was particularly interested in my activity, and watched me carefully for several trips. Then one day, I noticed she was grabbing the wild blackberries from the bushes lining the woods, eating them before I got to pick any myself. Berry picking trips soon became a competition to see which of us could eat the most, the fastest! And sometimes, even when I had not been picking berries myself, I would notice the telltale evidence of Ellie's indulgence in the sweet morsels, with smudges of blue stains on her white muzzle.
So today, when Sabiye and I climbed the hill to the berry patch hidden among the weeds and woods, I was not surprised to see that I had once again trained a dog to hunt out berries! Here is a picture of Sabiye "caught in the act," snatching berries from a bush before I, the birds, or a bear, can make them our own!
