Shortly after the snow had melted and the ground had apparently thawed, I looked out the window one day to see two freshly-dug holes in the front yard. To add insult to injury, one of our dogs was lounging right next to one of the holes, as if to brag about her latest feat. (Or would that be paws?) She looked like she was claiming squatters rights and wasn't going to move for anyone. She was holding her head up high and glancing around as if to proudly say, "Look what I did."

This is one of the downfalls of owning dogs. More to the point, this is one of the downfalls of owning dogs that rule your life and get away with anything. Go ahead, ask anyone who has visited us and met our "family" - they'll tell you that our dogs are spoiled.

Back to the digging of holes...I refer to these as puppy potholes, and find myself constantly warning visitors to be on the lookout for them, lest they find themselves tripping into one. For the most part, the dogs dig their holes in our driveway, but apparently the front lawn was awfully appealing this spring. And, of course, we have no way of knowing which dog (there are three) actually dug the holes, although in this case it's a pretty safe bet it was the one who was guarding them with her life.

A friend told me to just plant something in the holes, instead of patch, patch, patch. Looking at this from a dog's point of view, if I plant things in their holes they might take that as permission to dig everywhere because, after all, "she'll just stick a plant in here, anyway." (Dog psychology is a little tricky. Not only do you have to delve into their psyche, but you also have to actually understand what they are thinking and/or saying.)

If I could figure out a way to get the little buggers to dig in the right places, this gardening plan just might work. I could mark off a spot that I want dug up and tell them to go at it. Nah, that won't work. I have to make it look like it was their idea. (Wow, dog psychology is starting to sound an awful lot like marriage psychology; if you can convince them it was their idea, they are more likely to go along with it.)

I'm sure that if we can come up with something to sprinkle on the grass-soon-to-be-a-garden-plot that appeals to dogs, all three of them would be more than willing to dig, dig, dig. We'll obviously have to give this a little more thought. Until we come up with a good idea, keep in mind that if you are ever at our house and see a lone daisy or petunia planted in an odd spot in the yard be kind enough to ignore it, because heaven forbid you insult our dogs because of their digging habit or us because of our random gardening plans.

You can reach Mary Bruemmer by e-mail at mary. bruemmer@pineriverjournal.com