"The case of the Missing Black Fuzzy Sock"

If you have a dog living inside your house, you know this story. I do. Gypsy is my 8 year old English Pointer. If you read my blogs you already know alittle about her. We have been together several years and now, just over a year here at the cabin. Things have gone well for us, with only a mishap or two now and then. Miss Susie, the squirrel Gypsy scared causing her to chew her way into our walls has been hardware clothed out of the cabin. We hope. The neighbor dogs Bo and Haus who use to bark and make a fuss when they saw us, now just come over, eat the cat food sniff around alittle and go home. The rabbits, deer, turkey, song birds, feral cats
and other regular visiters no longer raise the hair on Gypsy's back. We have both settle into a pretty quiet existence. We have time to ponder our visiting critters, dream dreams and meditate on the cabin porch. Life is good. Except for one thing.
There is a thief loose somewhere in the woods
Now, this thief is not the usual kind. We aren't missing big, important expensive items, only small and what some might think as inconsequential items. I have investigated this problem and have come to this conclusion.
Throughout my lifetime I have come in contact with pets that secretly remove items from around your house. They put them in a variety of places. One dog whose name was Tinker Toy would hide under your bed and as your clothes hit the floor,he would very quietly pull them under the bed. My mom's dog, Itty Bit, use to hide those big, orange, circus peanuts in the cracks between the cushions of my mother's sofa. You might wonder why my mother gave her those. Thankgoodness she didn't eat them. We all know dogs will now and then get hold of an item that is not theirs. Maybe this item just had a familiar smell or was left in a nose high area. Perhaps it somehow got mixed in with their toys. It might have fallen on the floor near a wastebasket. In this case the dog would assume you were throwing it away. Mistakes happen.
How many times have you lost a sock in the laundry? Where do they go? Do washing machines eat them? Does laundry detergent nourish itself by eating them? Do they become lint in the dryer? Can they go down the drain? Is it fair to ask your dog if they have seen your sock. Absolutely not. When one of my favorite black, fuzzy socks disapeared while in the laundry, it never occured to me to ask Gypsy if she knew where it was. I am not that kind of person. I started looking. Sometimes socks cling to other items in the washer and hang on tight through the dryer as well. I did this search, no sock. Then I did the usual search around the laundry area. The old ruler under the machines proved fruitless. I was going to have to find a new pair of socks to keep me warm for the rest of the Winter. Where could that sock be? It has to be somewhere. They don't have wings. It did't get a ticket on Southwest Airlines. The feral cats don't come in the cabin. I was in dispair and had given up my search.
Because it has been cold, I have not been outside much. The first nice day, I decided to take the super dooper pooper scooper and clean Gypsy's area. Well, guess what I found? Out near the edge of my angel patch, almost hidden from view was my black, fuzzy sock. You probably think that I will think that Gypsy took it. Not necessarily, although it is a mystery as to how it got there. She would never take one of my socks, sneak it outside and hide it. Unless she had a moment when she lost control. Some dogs have this problem. She can't help it. Desire slid in under her brain causing her to do a dastardly deed. It happens to all of us. The sock was probably in her way on a path she held as hers. It was dirty and she wanted to clean her area. It's hard to argue with common sense. I do have to ask a tough question. Wasn't it around the same time the black fuzzy sock can up missing that I noticed Gypsy was acting strangly. When she went out she checked one spot immediately. I thought nothing of this until I realized that was where my sock was when I found it. This is all circumstantial evidence. After all, aren't we innocent until proven guilty? Her paw was on the bible when ask if she was telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you Lassie. When she barked yes, my heart came to rest where I knew it should be. I didn't notice at that time her back legs were crossed and she was holding her breath.