Buffalo Bones

As we’re all aware (and if we weren’t, we are now), Reyna is mildly allergic to beef. Because of this, buying beef soup bones for the dogs is pretty much out of the question. So, a couple of weeks ago, I bought three bison bones, instead. They were each about 8 inches long, and still had chunks of meat on them. I had to get three, because Reyna and Duncan each get a bone, and there’s a spare. Because Reyna will take Duncan’s bone, and Duncan takes the spare. And then Reyna takes Duncan’s bone, and Duncan takes the spare. This usually goes on until the bones have been eaten. If there are just two bones, Reyna takes Duncan’s, and Duncan looks pathetic until I give him Reyna’s old bone. And then Reyna takes Duncan’s, and Duncan looks pathetic. Its just something they do.

On this particular day, I put all three buffalo bones on the living room floor after thawing them (Reyna doesn’t like her bones to be icy). Reyna checked them out and then ignored them (she doesn’t actually like them colder than room temp… she’s a bit picky about that). Duncan just stared at the bones, almost as if he couldn’t believe his luck. After about 15 minutes, Reyna picked up one of the bones and took it outside. I usually don’t encourage that because of the ants, but its cold enough that ants aren’t an issue. I didn’t pay too much attention to what was happening until I heard a lot of leaf rustling. When I stepped out on the deck, Duncan was standing at the corner, looking underneath. Reyna was burying the bone in the pile of leaves under the deck. When she was finished, she came inside and laid down. Duncan came in and sat by the chair, and just watched Reyna.

10 minutes later, Reyna hopped up, grabbed the second bone, and headed outside. This time, I grabbed my camera as I followed her out. While Duncan and I watched, Reyna buried the bone next to the tree in the back yard. And by bury, I mean she dug a hole about 3 inches deep, dropped the bone, and then pushed a bit of dirt and a few leaves on top of it.

Not exactly the most effective burial, but she seemed happy with it. She also seemed rather surprised when she looked up and realized that Duncan and I were both watching her.

She came back inside and laid down, like nothing had happened. I could tell that Duncan wasn’t too sure if he wanted to come back in, or if he wanted to go check out the bone. But he came back in the house and sat down, watching Reyna. A few minutes later, Reyna got up and went outside, but stopped on the deck when she realized Duncan and I were following her (notice the streak of dirt across her nose). Instead of going with her original plan, she just went back in the house and laid down.

About 10 minutes after that, though, she hopped up, grabbed the third bone, and trotted outside. This one, she decided to bury next to the fence, using the same method of shallow hole, a little dirt, and some leaves.

I’m not sure if she was so absorbed in what she was doing that she wasn’t paying attention, but once again, she seemed very surprised to realize that Duncan and I were watching her.

When she was finished, she went back in the house and laid down. Duncan went in right behind her, sat down, and looked pretty confused about the whole thing. Not too long after that, Duncan went outside and headed straight for the tree. Before he could do too much, though, Reyna popped out of the house to see what was going on. Duncan didn’t seem happy with the audience, so he went back inside.

About 20 minutes went by, and Duncan decided to go outside again. This time, he went for the fence. He actually had the bone uncovered before he realized we were watching him.

Later that afternoon, Duncan went outside and got the bone that was under the deck. He took it to the middle of the yard and laid down with it. Didn’t actually chew on it, just laid next to it for about 20 minutes, and then came back in the house.

The next day, the bone buried by the tree was in the yard. It was another two days before the bone buried by the fence was brought out. Only once (that I know of) has one of the bones been brought back into the house. Reyna brought one in last Friday afternoon, and wandered around the living room and hall, looking for a good place to bury it. She tried digging a hole in her bed, but apparently didn’t like the results. She seemed to consider the idea of burying it her chair, but, surprisingly, dismissed that location. After about 5 minutes of looking around for the right spot, she took the bone back outside.

Each morning and every evening after work, the bones are all in different places in the yard. I can tell they’ve been working on them, digging out some of the marrow. I’m glad they’re enjoying them, but I really didn’t expect the bones to generate so much entertainment. I guess I’ll have to get smaller bones next time, because once the weather warms up, I won’t let them keep bones with meat and marrow out in the yard. I have a real issue with how much the ants seem to love those bones.