The Case of the Missing Shoes

(For those who love a good mystery!)

Our oldest son graduated this year! It was a joy to see him complete such a big milestone in his life, but we had lots of work to do on our home in preparation for all of our visiting family. One of the things my husband did was to carpet the porch that sits on the front of our house, as well as to add a nice bench to sit on for taking our shoes on and off. What a nice addition it turned out to be and we now use it to store our shoes.

One gray, rainy morning as I was leaving that front porch, I happened to look down through the window on to the lawn. There, half buried in the dirt was one of my tennis shoes! It was surreal - I wondered if I was seeing things! Nope, there, partially covered in the black North Dakota dirt, was my beat up tennis shoe! I must not fail to mention, that we let our dog out that front door, and the outside door is old and doesn't always catch. So…it seems our dog, Hailey, had snatched one of my tennis shoes and proceeded to dig a small hole in an attempt to bury it!

Over the next few weeks, I would go to put on a pair of sandals that I had left on the porch only to find one of them was missing. I would search the small area that Hailey's chain allowed her to move in and sure enough - that missing sandal was half buried in the dirt! The funny thing was, she only buried my shoes. My husband's and both sons’ shoes were on that porch, but she seemed to only be interested in my shoes. She never chewed them, just carefully buried them. When I found the hidden shoe, Hailey would act in such a way as if to say, "Hey, leave that alone, I buried that!"

Yesterday, I went out to put on my sandals, and once again I found one missing! I searched Hailey's area, but found no sandal. I searched the house thinking maybe I accidentally brought it in, but no sandal was to be found. My husband searched the bushes by the house…..no sandal. Weird! Later in the day, the Skis’ came over to help us cut up a large limb that had fallen from a neighbor’s tree, and was taking up a large area of our front yard. As Bro. Ski was busy with his chain saw, Mrs. Ski, along with my family, were hauling the branches to the trailer. All of a sudden, something near the front steps caught my eye! I spied the top part of my sandal! It hadn't been there earlier in the day, and yet, there it was now! After a quick laugh over this little mystery and once again wondering how our little shoe thief managed all these antics, I rejoiced over getting my sandal back!

We're not quite sure how to break Hailey of this bad habit of shoe-napping! If I'm not in a hurry, it can be kind of an adventure trying to play her game of “Hide Mama’s Shoe”, but then again this mischievous dog can add extra stress in an already rushed moment in trying to get out of the house. The right pet can be a blessing to a family! Hailey kept me company many weekends when my husband and boys were away at basketball games, and when my husband went to Spain for his job. It was a comfort to have her there as our watchdog! For the blessing she is to our family, I guess we can put up with a little "hide the shoe", don't you think?!