Bart's Burying Bent

I've mentioned Bart's burying skills before and have been promising to write more about it...but the more I think about it, the more perplexed I get! No two ways about it, Mr. Barticus Farticus is one weird little dude!

 

Note the rock between his paws!

How else do you explain a dog who thinks this rock is sufficiently hidden ...

...yes, he dug a hole, place the rock... nudged dirt around and yet... it's hidden in plain sight! And yet this same dog is fully capable of burying an entire loaf of bread!

Yes, that's an ENTIRE new loaf of Orowheat... and we had to dig it up partially to take the photo! 

I really don't know what to make of his....skills! Mabel has said it here and I will too... he has been hit in the head with more than a few rocks! But I swear, he was like this when he came to live with the bestie!

About the rocks: When Bart's mom first started hiking with us, she was recovering from knee surgery and couldn't travel very far. This was NOT a good walk for Bart! He likes to run. That was not an option. And he had no interest in balls... mainly because a certain bossy friend of his whose name may or may not rhyme with Schmabel Poo, never lets him play with balls...or sticks...or small trees. What was a bored boy to do???

Throw me something Sister!

His mom quickly found that he loved to chase rocks. And the closer they were, the bigger splash they made, the happier he was. Can you say "Dangerous Game???" Bart does catch a few rocks but he loves to put his whole head under water...

and come up with a larger rock (often one that wasn't even thrown) and take it into the brush for a good gnawing!

He will sit there and chew and chew on that rock!

Sometimes, he will give it to his mom to toss again...

But mostly he chews until we tell him we have to leave or until he's ready to hide the rock.

Then he makes his good-hearted, yet ultimately feeble attempt at burial:

But contrast that with Bart at home whose burial skills have been the source of much amusement in the last several months. We first noticed it at Christmas. Bart's two-legged brother loves these homemade Hungarian cookies called Kex (or probably Keczs) for the holidays. His mom bought the "digestive crackers" she uses for the base and made a few batches. She was going to make another but couldn't find the third pack of crackers! She looked and looked and decided it was left in the store.

She buys bread for the hubby when he's in town but could not find a loaf she was certain she purchased. Odd things like this kept happening.

A few weeks ago, Mabel and I went over with some Kona cookies from Trader Joe's for morning coffee in her garden. While there, Bart got concerned and tried to place some dirt next to where I was sitting. The humans were talking and ignored it. But not Mabel Lou! She went over and started digging! There were the digestive crackers, still in their packaging! Bart had buried them completely and if not for Mabel, we would have never known!

Bart's mom started to notice that whenever Bart was left alone at night, food from the lower pantry would disappear! One night she and her hubby were out to dinner and came in and went into her office. Bart's dad nearly tripped over a box of those Kona cookies, left right in the doorway!  They had apparently caught Bart in the act!

  

Now that they know what triggers the stealing, they block the pantry but...that still does not explain how he can bury an entire loaf of bread so well but can't bury a rock!

This is the bread before we uncovered it...all that is visible is a bit of plastic!

 Barty Boy, you are a mystery!