Ray occasionally has this unfortunate habit of (well there is no delicate way of describing this) pooping in unusual situations!

His daily routine is typically to ring the bell on the back door around 6:00am-6:30am which simply means that he needs to go out and poop. His next poop is usually around 10:30am, which is about 15-20mins into our morning walk, and his final poop (an occasional event) is late at night before we all get some sleep. His early morning and late night “events” are pretty routine in that there are certain parts of the garden that he clearly prefers to use but when he is out on a walk, his behavior is much more creative.

Last winter he developed a habit that was …………well……………awkward. Whereas he never seemed to like climbing up on snow because his feet would suddenly break through the surface, he had no qualms about finding a good stable spot on the top of a snow bank and squatting there in order to poop. Ray is quite a big dog and so his stools are …………well………… let’s say very visible!

Imagine a situation where Ray clearly wants to poop and is climbing snow banks looking for that perfect spot. He finds that spot and starts doing what he has to do. I am just standing there with poop bag in hand when I see a young couple coming along the sidewalk towards us. Just as they move to go around me, one of Ray’s poops rolls down the snow and onto the sidewalk. This is quickly followed by two more. The couple move over a bit and continue on their way while I am standing there speechless. What can one possibly say under those circumstances? Oops… Poops? Ray in the meantime has moved on to other things and is totally oblivious to the circumstances.

In the warmer seasons, not only are slopes in landscaped gardens appealing to him, but so are all manners of plants but with a distinct preference for leafy shrubs and tall grasses.

Having a casual stroll with Ray will often become a brisk walk as he suddenly heads for a beautifully landscaped garden with multi-level flower beds. Between the ornamental rocks that are holding the various levels together are sloped sections often planted with leafy low growing shrubbery. Ray will find those sloping sections and leave me with the task of rounding up every stool. This is not an easy task as they will roll until trapped (or perhaps hide?) under a plant. Parking himself right over grasses also presents challenges as one tries to extricate stools from within the plant structure.

Why does he feel the need to deposit his waste on top of a plant………or on a sloping surface?

You can probably imagine my feelings when I am walking Ray and we suddenly come across a heritage property with a heavily planted mature garden sloping up from the sidewalk. I just know that this idyllic setting is soon to be “blessed” by Ray. I guess it is a matter of simple mental conditioning, but after a total resignation to the inevitable, I no longer feel awkward as I bend over the garden and carefully separate plant stems so that I can collect Ray’s deposits! (OK ……. …………I know there were two large ones and a small one, so where did the small one get to?).