Charlie just loved and adored chocolate. She could smell it and despite my best efforts she would ferret it out and demolish it in minutes flat. It didn't matter how or where I chose to hide it, no chocolate was ever safe from her slavering, chocolate loving jaws.

We have a few tales regarding our beloved ridgeback, however bearing in mind the time of year "Easter" this is one story I feel is quite apt.

In essence I had organised an Easter Egg Hunt in our back garden for Easter Sunday morning - the "cousins" were all coming to our house to take part in the hunt and the children were very excited because the "Big Bun.." was hopping over and hopefully he was going to leave something pretty special for each and everyone of them. The tension was building or indeed had been building for quite some time, as were the pros and cons of the big bunny actually knowing which address to go to and where to leave those yummy eggs as against him going off schedule, subsequently getting lost and never finding our house. All aspects of the children's behaviour were also coming in for some heavy discussion. It was a time for fun and naturally some good natured ribbing was going on between the various fathers and their children - who always like to take advantage to have a little tease should the opportunity arise.

Well Easter Saturday evening had arrived and the eggs had to be hidden before the little ones got up at dawn and to go looking - so my older son and I hid about twenty medium sized chocolate eggs in what we thought were really good spots! in the vegetable patch - under the pumpkin plant, in the arbour at the back of the garden (no one really ever goes there!) amongst the plants under the garden seat and so went the list of really good hidey holes went on.

Fast forward to about 6.00am Easter Sunday morning and our resident ridgeback needs to go outside for her early constitutional - Charlie needs to water the grass - so out she went, to return very happily after I called her in about twenty minutes later. fact is it did strike me at the time that she was smiling - something she had been quite well known for!

The much anticipated time for the easter Egg Hunt hadfinally arrived and with it the cousins, who were mainly aged under 10, and so the noisy search was on. The back door nearly came off it's hinges as they all trooped out to the garden but instead of the joyful voices of happy campers all we heard was a great outcry of disappointment because what they did not find was - eggs - where those eggs should have been were now lots and lots of coloured chocolate papers - her remainders of the day. There may have one or two undiscovered eggs overlooked by our wonder dog Charlie in her twenty minute romp but basically she had been in her own chocolatey doggy heaven - again!

How stupid of me to forget her predeliction for chocolate and additionally to not remember that in her unsupervised twenty minute frolic it would have been a doddle for her, via her highly developed olfactory capacities, to find and eat 90% of the eggs left by the "Big Bun" for the delight of our family and visiting children! What a naughty Charlie.......Bad Dog!

copyright; a.a.gallagher march 2009