Don’t mess with the woodpigeons.

My furboy (who has his first birthday next week) is constantly barking at the woodpigeons who are regular visitors to our garden. Indeed, there is a nest in our wisteria which I think they are sussing out for this year’s brood. Nothing energises my furboy more than launching himself out of the patio doors in the direction of any fence which bears a woodpigeon and barking, barking, barking (amazingly my neighbours are very tolerant).

The other week, he took his favourite blue ball outside to play. When he came back indoors, he left it on the lawn. He is not good at bringing his toys back in again and, as it was snowing, I decided I would wait and collect the ball later in the afternoon before it got dark.

Then the ball went missing. My husband and I went out to look for it, and it had literally vanished. Mystifying.

Furboy has missed his blue ball, but we have managed to keep him occupied with his yellow and green squeaky toy balls instead. Then, today, I happened to look up at one of my neighbour’s gutters and saw…….. the blue ball! It looks like one of the birds (probably a woodpigeon as we have so many of them) has swooped into the garden, taken the ball, and dropped in in the gutter of our neighbour’s house, out of furboy’s reach. I reckon it is revenge on furboy for all the barking he does at them – even though the birds just sit and look at him (they probably think “what a stupid dog!”). These neighbours have not long moved in and we haven’t met them yet, so I feel I can’t go and ask them to get it for me.

So, I think blue ball is a loss. We may have to get him a new one for his birthday.