this is what happens when you have a bird dog

we put up our christmas tree. (just like molly, i might add). and, this is unlike me, but i'm only putting up one this year. i just don't have the energy to go through with my normal christmas routine. the tree that i put up is my favorite -- the tall skinny fake tree but looks real because of the twigs and branches that make it look more real than my walmart $20 tree that i still have and still love.

some of our ornaments didn't fit, and i haven't found some of them. but i put on what we had. now - just to let you know, this is not bailey's first tree. when he was a puppy, he used to lay underneath the tree. UNDERNEATH. the second year, we were quite concerned. how was this going to work? what if he tried to go under the tree? (this is where a digital camera would be great so you could see that he's roughly a little shorter than half the size of our tree. we did buy one. for ourselves for christmas, but a) it's not christmas yet and b) i haven't figure out how to use it yet. more to come on that.)

but he didn't. he was a good boy. mind you, last year, he was still in his crate. but this summer, we decided to pack away the crate and try it on our own. it's been great, really. he's been a super good boy. he's never destroyed anything, and as far as we can tell, he spends the whole day sleeping on the couch.

that is, until he met the bird. we got a bird ornament last year from my s-i-l. it was a lovely wooden folk art bird. it was wood. with little metal hearts. we noticed on sunday night that he liked the bird. he approached it delicately, gave it kisses, and walked away. that was the first sign of trouble.

a few hours later, he approached it again and sniffed. j gave him a stern warning, and we thought that would work.

the next day, i got a call from j at work.

"i think he ate something." there were metal hearts by the tree. no sign of anything else. "i don't know what it was.."
"did you already look to see if the bird was still there?"
"hang on..... oh. no. the bird is gone."

and this folks is what happens when you try to take the bird dog out of the springer spaniel.