Saturday, June 5, 2010

An early morning fright.




An audible intake of breath by 'the font' had me hurtling down the stairs to see what the matter was. For one horrible, horrible moment it looked as though Wilf had managed to have an argument with a chain saw or another dog. The white of his coat was stained deep glistening crimson , he seemed to be covered in large red wounds all the way along the back and sides, and his muzzle looked as though it had been seriously gashed. How on earth could it have happened ?

Then a quick check - the large red wounds weren't wounds at all - they were very ripe, very sweet, very squashed cherries. Overnight there had been a strong breeze from the mountains that had shaken a rich , ground shrouding cover of dark purple fruits from the trees. Wilf , being Wilf, had gone out into the cherry orchard on his pre-breakfast ramble , grazed unconcernedly on the cherries ( hence the bright red muzzle ), rolled playfully on his back and then fallen into a deep ,oblivious to everything, sleep. End result he came into the house luxuriantly soaked in cherry juice and looking as if he'd been on the receiving end of something unspeakable. As he was dumped unceremoniously in the bath by 'the font' he gave me one of his " I didn't mean to do anything wrong " looks.

After a vigorous scrubbing and a post bath rice cake he is now recovering from his watery ordeal in the shade of the courtyard trees. The crimson dog has returned to his natural snow white state remarkably quickly. There's never a dull moment with Wilf. We now await the longer term gastric effects of his cherry eating. These should become evident round about lunchtime.

Who's ever heard of dogs eating cherries ? Mental note to add to the list of things to do - fence off and gate the cherry orchard.

27 comments:

  1. I take our Sally to the park across the road. As the park is an ex-slag heap or summick similar, ca. 30 years ago the Council landscaped the post-mine area and planted fast growing trees, a lot of them varieties of cherries. Nobody eats them so both myself and Sally eat them every day when in the park at the beginning of July. She is quite happy with the slightly under-ripe ones, stalk, stone an'all. Never had any side effects, or any other effect! And we can go through a pound of cherries a day if the weather is right and they ripen quickly.

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  2. Oh Wilf, my heart stopped for a moment when I saw the first few sentences. You little dickens! Still, cherries are ever so much better than...poop, which is what my Buzzy MacDuff rolled in last week. He said it smelled like perfume to him! Have a great weekend
    Yankee Gal

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  3. With our internet connection restored, yours is the first blog I've read this morning, and so my day has begun with a chuckle!! We had the same kind of thing happen a few years ago when I returned home to find "red" in several places in the house--One dog, Rudi had it all over her mouth and front legs. Like you I thought the worst until I was able to figure out that she had eaten a box of strawberry-jello--I guess that dogs like Rudi and Wilf never allow us a dull moment!

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  4. WiLF... geez louize you gave me a frickin heart attack!!!!!!

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  5. Glad it was nothing serious, which means now you can laugh at the antics. That is a new one for me.

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  6. One of Java's favorite treats was cherry. I would toss them to him and he would eat cherry, pit, stem - all of it. It was one of our favorite summer games - I bought cherries last night and I can never eat one without seeing his goofy face.

    I'm glad all that happened to Wilf could be washed away.

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  7. Ummm, I don't think Wilf went through any ordeal as yet, unless he looks at baths the way I do. The ordeal part seems to have been all on the human end. Of course, the gastric effects, which should have kicked in by now, might be a different story. Hope he doesn't have big tummyaches from this.

    wags, Lola

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  8. Oh gosh! That would have scared me, too! Glad he is ok. My dogs would probably eat cherries... they eat the black berries in our yard when they're low enough to the ground.

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  9. Wow never heard of a cherry eating dog. But mine love bananas, apples, dried apricots, baby carrots, beets, green beans, sweet potatos and more. Keep a good eye out, Wilf may have another bath in his future!!

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  10. Hey Mongoose...
    We had the sudden intake of breath too! So glad all's okay.
    By the way...
    How do you camoflage an elephant in a cherry tree?
    ...paint its toenails red! :)
    MAXMOM IN SA

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  11. Fenris likes to eat blueberries and strawberries, so we guesses a dog eating cherries isn't so strange.

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  12. Knowing from personal experience how cherries can stain, I'm just relieved to read that Wilf is not a delicate shade of rosebud pink now!

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  13. That does sound horrifying, to find Wilf covered in crimson. I don't blame you for a very tense reaction. Glad that it was only cherries. I hope that the gastric effects aren't bad.

    My dogs both eat fruit (in small quantities) because it's one of the treats that's allowed for our K with the pancreatitis problems. However, I've never given them cherries (due to the pits) so I don't know how dogs react to hem. We did once have a dog eat a lot of olives from under a tree, and the aftereffects were not a lot of fun.

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  14. Oh my soul, what a scare.
    I'm surprised the juice didn't dye his fur a bit. A festive pink for the concert!

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  15. The Bougalou BearJune 5, 2010 at 6:22 PM

    And they say that owning a dog is good for one's blood pressure...HA!

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  16. Oh phew! You must be so relieved.
    Fingers crossed that Wilf has a strong stomach..
    Cheers, Gail.

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  17. I'm surprised the font didn't faint clean away at the sight of him. I'm pretty sure my mom would have. That silly boy. Maybe perhaps he didn't actually eat any and just wanted to try something new fashion-wise? Paws crossed that that's the case and that his little stunt doesn't, um, backfire on him, so to speaks!

    Wiggles & WAgs,
    Mayzie

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  18. I'm disappointed that there are no pictures of a red Wilf! That would have been highly amusing!

    My sister once made a bet with our dad that she could get our border collie, Duke, to eat a cherry. My dad laughed at her and made the bet. Sure enough, Duke dutifully ate that cherry and many more from the tree we had in the yard.

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  19. How nice that Wilf is enjoying life, even as he tries to give you heart failure. :)

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  20. Hmmmm, I don't think I've ever seen a cherry red dog before! :)

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  21. I'm sure glad that he's alright, do watch out for cherry pits shooting out of his other end!

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  22. OH my - We think Digby might have a paw in this -

    We're so glad his safe and very clean hope his tummy is not rumbling and feeling upset....

    XxoooXXoooXxxoo

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  23. We've been off the puter for about a week. HOLY CRAP WILF!!!!! Did you at least spit out the PITS!!!!????
    We'll catch up soon.
    Still thinking about y'all in Texas
    Hugs
    Jamie & the Texas Sundogs

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  24. I'm with houndstooth in being disappointed that you didn't take a picture of a red Wilf!

    I have absolutely no doubt that my little dogs would eat cherries too if they had the opportunity!

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  25. Whew........and we are breathing a sigh of relierf here tonight!

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  26. I can just imagine how deeply your heart must have sunk! My gosh, what a horrible sight that must have been! Uhm, are the cherries sweet and ripe☺

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