Inspecting The Boundary

Barley, a dog, sniffs along the transition from patchy grass to dense shrubbery.

Put Barley in any relatively open area, and unless she’s in the mood to flop and sun-worship, the first thing she’ll usually do is walk straight to the edge of the area and start checking its boundary. Whether it’s following along the base of walls, or checking out trees, or scoping out a drop-off, her understanding of a space seems to be principally focused on tracing its edges. No doubt, this is for two reasons. On the one hand, such boundaries are generally likely places for other dogs to have left behind socially compelling scents. On the other, wind and weather have a way of gathering crumbs along such edges, so if you’re going to find some Floor Snacks in an unfamiliar place, that’s probably where you’d want to check.