My helpful dogs make fall leaf clean-up so much easier
TweetI live on a property that contains various evergreens, a weeping cherry, a wild pear tree, two redbuds, a couple of magnolias, some oaks and a slew of maple trees.
Which means, come autumn, a boatload–probably several boatloads–of leaves put on a lovely show of golds and reds and oranges, and then all fall down, covering the ground.
It’s a bit of a chore to clean up, but the dogs are happy to offer their assistance in this yearly task.
We’re here to help.
The leaves require close scrutiny before they’re raked up.
I think there’s a bug in there somewhere.
We use a combination of leaf blower and rake to herd the leaves onto a tarp. Lilah is Chief Tarp Inspector.
Looks good.
Once the leaves are gathered together and begin to look like a pile, the helpful dogs jump in. They romp, pounce and roll around to help spread the pile out and crunch the leaves into tiny pieces.
Leaves stick to Lilah’s fur.
Teamwork is important; the dogs take time to coordinate a plan.
Lilah, you work the north side. Tucker, take the south. I’ll take the middle where it’s deepest.
We’re not done yet. We still have lots of work to do here.
Jasper and Lilah take their jobs quite seriously.
It’s a little deep here, Jasper, but I have it under control.
Jasper immerses himself in the task.
Leave it to me; I’ll get the work done. (Even dogs can pun, you know.)
With so much help, the job gets done much slower faster. I don’t know how people without dogs manage to clean up their leaves.
Do you pets help with chores?
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Today we are participating in the Mischief Monday blog hop. Take some time to visit the blogs below for some more mischief.
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They look like they are having so much fun!!
They are. I wish I could jump in there with them sometimes. (And sometimes I do.)
I never have the heart to tell my dogs how annoying they are when they try to help.
Oh, I tell them they’re very good helpers. At least they provide entertainment. 😉
How would they manage without us?
I know, right? 😀
I am soooooo stupid. I used a mulcher to shred up my leaves.
Maybe Honey could take a lesson from your pups so she could be a better helper.
A couple of rounds of romp, jump and pounce and the leaves are shredded to bits. 😉
Kilo should takes notes!
Yes. Having a helpful dog around the house makes work that much more
efficientinteresting.It may not have made the job go any faster, but your pack sure made the process more entertaining. It probably seemed faster than to those dogless people who have to rake all by themselves!
I just can’t imagine how people rake leaves without dogs–or little kids. It would be so boring. 😉
They look like they are such good helpers! Yard work is always much more fun and goes faster when the dogs can help out.
Yes, they are very good helpers, and provide tons of
distractionentertainment.Jack’s main job is to stay as close to me as possible and he does a pretty good job at it – I can tell by the number of times I trip over him.
In my house, that’s the cats’ job. They excel at it.
Mr. N likes to help me clean up the house. It probably takes longer than if I were to just go and fetch the item but he gets a mental workout and he looks so proud of himself!
I love your game of teaching him to fetch different objects. I will by trying that with my gang this winter!
They look like they were a huge help with the leaves. 😉 We like to help with the chores too…though the mom doesn’t call it help for some reason.
Yes. Huge help. If by help you mean spreading the leaves back out. But they are oh so entertaining. (And I admit, I’ll rake everything back into a pile so they can play again.)
Lilah looks intense in one of those photos, but she makes me smile because her face is so freaking cute. I will have to tell Doodle Dad about the tarp, we’ve got a mess of leaves in the backyard. He usually uses the lawn mower but raking looks like more fun – especially with Harley out there!
Lilah plays hard, so she often comes out looking really serious in a photo, when I know she’s having a great time. And thanks; I think she’s cute, too. And the sweetest, gentlest girl. Except when she’s playing…then watch out; she’ll body check her 70-pound brother Jasper!
We get in the way more than we help. BOL! You guys look like your having a blast!
I think “getting in the way” and “helping” are synonymous in Dog.
Hi Y’all!
BOl! We don’t rake leaves. I’ve never seen a pile of leaves, especially a big pile like that! In the mountains the wind takes care of the leaves. At the shore the lawnmower mulches them.
Y’all come on by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
We have a fenced-in yard (to keep deer out and dogs in) so once the leaves fall, they stay. We have to help them into the compost pile in the woods.
Rita loves to help with any yard work! But we don’t have to do any leaf clean up here at our house. I’m sure she would LOVE to help with that! Those pics are all so cute! Your dogs are so adorable!
Aw, thanks! So glad you have a helpful dog, too.
Hi, my first time commenting here. First of all I LOVE your blog. Just to introduce myslef, my name is Alexis (duh) and I have a red eared slider named Buddy and a painted turtle named Angel. Also I have a dog named Gangjute who is 17-19 human years old. My Buddy help me very much by making sure my dirty laundry is very dirty by ruffling and pooping on it. Gangjute helps with cleaning up scraps on the floor by eating them.
Welcome! So glad you like my blog. I stopped by your site. How adorable! We are big turtle fans in my house. There’s a pond nearby we often pass on our way to work or other places. It has a big log in it that turtles (painters mostly) hang out on on warm summer days. We count the turtles as we drive by, and then we’ll say, “It was a 7 turtle day!” Best day was when I counted 12!
Wow, what a helpful bunch! We don’t have to rake leaves, either. I remember doing it as a child. It was fun to jump in the crunchy piles. 🙂
I remember the fun as a kit, too. It’s all I can do not to jump in the pile with them! 😉
The pups look like they are having a great time!
Indeed they are!
Wow what fun. MOL
Luv ya’
Dezi n Lexi
Work can be fun, particularly if you’re a dog. 😉
We go to Gramma’s to play in the leaves every year because she has so many. We don’t have many at our house.
We read the title to this post, and thought to ourselves…surely she’s pulling our paw, and then we saw so many adorable photos, we forgot all about it. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
Looks like a much easier task with all those eager helpers! 🙂
I hope you’re having a fun day,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Even when we need more time, without our furkids it is just work, with them and event :o)