You gotta love 'em...

This morning consisted of the typical routine... the dogs scratch at the bed until I can't take it anymore (this happens anytime between 6:00-6:45... if I'm lucky, 7:00am) and I stumble to the kitchen to feed them. I manage to fill their water bowls, usually spilling half of it on the floor due to my still-half-asleep mode, open the back door a jar and crawl back to bed.

This routine has worked fine, until today that is. I woke up to discover the dogs weren't back inside yet, like they normally are. Typically, they go outside for a bit... do their business, play around... then jump back into bed for another few hours. 8:00am rolled around and I jolted out of bed... no not because there was the typical "barking at nothing" routine, but even worse... it was silent! I didn't hear a peep and if I didn't know better, I would have thought they'd run away.

Wrong. I run to the windows to first make sure they hadn't some how hopped the fence. No, instead my little brats we're digging and tunneling through the wet grass and to my fear, Brody (my white pup) pulled his head out of a deep hole and looked up at me as if he was saying "What's the matter mom?"... it took less than a second for me to register my white dog was not mostly brown. I know I've posted pictures of him with mud cakes all over his face... but this time it was BAD. And no, I didn't snap any pictures, because to my fear, his entire head, all four paws/legs and under belly were COVERED in wet, clumpy brown mud. As I ran outside to catch him, he instantly thought it was a game and ran into the house and tracked mud EVERYWHEREEEEE!

I scooped him up and threw him into the tub... it took a good 20 minutes to rinse all the dirt off him, the toughest being his snout where there were clumps the size of marbles dangling off him. Needless to say, it took another 20 minutes to scrub out all the dirt from the tub.

I've been keeping an eye on them and of course, once there's a fresh area dug up, it always seems to attract them back for more. I caught them both digging and have been spraying them with a squirt bottle, but it has little effect on them. I tried putting a chair over the area, but it seems like a hedgehog dug up a 6ft long tunnel and they keep tunneling further and further in one steady path!

For now, I'll have to monitor their outside time, which to be honest is a big pain in the butt. Hopefully the grass grows back quickly and they get the picture they're in BIG trouble when they dig holes in the backyard. As much as I wanted to paddle their little butts, they are cute and you gotta love 'em... even if they do ruin the backyard, track mud everywhere and have to bathe several times a day...