Everyone knows that Great Pyrenees mountain dogs are covered in fluffy white fur so they can blend in with the sheep they guard in the snow.
Unfortunately, the same evolutionary principles that produced the world's whitest dog also provided the breed with a built-in homing device that propels them towards the Pyrenees wherever else in the world you take them. If you foolishly attempt to keep them away from their native habitat (say, by building a large and expensive fence around your garden in Bethesda, Maryland) they will rapidly display the other unmistakeable characteristic of the breed.
They are the world's greatest diggers of holes. Something deep in their canine psyches instructs them, when trapped, to dig like hell in the general direction of the Pyrenees, which from this side of the globe, is downwards.
If only the Kaiser had known what Belle knows about digging trenches, the Germans would never have lost World War One. If only the Americans realised they don't need to send BP to drill for oil in the Arctic - Belle could dig it up in a flash, and guard a herd of reindeer while she's at it.
We have become used to filling in the holes that Belle digs in the garden each day, but the problem arises when a sudden torrential thunderstorm passes overhead, turning her latest would-be escape route into a mudbath.
Sadly, Sylvie failed to spot the danger in time, and allowed Belle outdoors when the rain stopped. She made straight for her newest hole, and worked vigorously for the next half an hour to clear it of water so she could dig even deeper. Then she came and pranced around the deck until we came out to inspect her handiwork. I've just finished hosing it - and her - down.
Good dog, Belle. She was eight months old yesterday.


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