A Tale of a Dog & Apples

These paper mache apples covered in a shiny glaze were an after-Christmas purchase – a plastic container of 20 on sale cheap. They look great on the Christmas tree and are perfect for hanging on the lower branches when you have a cat that likes to swat your ornaments. It turns out the dog liked them too. At the time we had a lovely Airedale Terrier by the name of Solomon. Though not often wise, he was very clever. One day I happened to notice one of the apples in his dog bed. I figured he picked it up after the cat swatted it off the tree. I hung it back up. The next day there were two apples in his bed. I hung those up. An hour later they were back. Curious, I positioned myself to be able to see the tree while going relatively unnoticed. Pretty soon, Solomon came over to the tree, chose an apple, put his nose under it, lifted it off the branch and carefully carried it to his bed. Like I said, a clever dog. It became a bit of a ritual – hang the apples, retrieve the apples, hang the apples, retrieve the apples. These are the last few we have left. They are not all as shiny as they once were and they have tooth marks. When we hang them on the tree we think of that dog with great affection.