Dog Perfume

Meadow loves dog perfume.

You know - the sort that only a dog finds on the ground somewhere and immediately rolls in, applying to the neck, chin, ear, shoulder; whichever body part makes contact.

The sort that's likely some form of decomposing animal matter and makes a lovely smear on the fur while at the same time adding a distinctive aroma.

Meadow found some yesterday.

My first day home after my trip to NYC, we awoke to sunshine. I took the girls for a hike up into the forest. Even though the road hadn't been groomed recently, it had been packed by snowmobiles, and the surface was crusty and hard which not only supports our weight, but keeps those painful snowballs from collecting between the girls' toes.

We were on the return leg when I saw Meadow, ahead of me and sniffing something - nothing unusual in that - make that balletic dive into the snow with her neck and shoulder that makes me think, "Oh no - now what?"

I chastised her. She got up and happily chased down the hill after Maia. I stopped to look at the spot where she rolled, and spied something yellow and brown frozen in the snow. Maybe urine and feces of a...deer? Elk? Coyote? Wolf? Who knows. I wasn't even sure it was urine and feces. I started off down the hill, then returned. I had my camera, I might as well photograph the perfume and turn it into a blog entry, right?

A few minutes later, the girls and I stopped to admire the view. That's when I noticed the bright yellow smear on the fur near Meadow's cheek. Ugh. But what the heck had she rolled in? Urine wouldn't make such a bright yellow streak on her fur. It had a metallic tinge.

Back home, in the yard, I watched Meadow rub that side of her head in the snow, then smell and lick the snow. Clearly she was really enjoying this perfume. In her mind, it was probably worth at least a $1000 per smudge!

I still have no idea what the perfume Meadow applied during our hike is made of. She didn't stink, as she often has after applications of other types of perfume. (A few years ago I actually won a consolation prize in a writing contest, describing a similar incident with Meadow. I had to hold my nose while driving home after that incident!) It took some effort on my part to wash the stain off her fur.

Given its unknown origins, maybe I should call this perfume...Meadow's Mystery.