trick or treat

Halloween was never big in our household, even when I was a child. Subsequently, I didn't subject the Buckster to costumes, except for the obligatory reindeer antlers at Christmas, but they didn't stay on long enough for a picture. Typically, he didn't care for much adornment and preferred to run around happy, free and naked. I tried to test a bell on him, with the premise that it would stop ringing when he was on point. He seemed so forlorn with the idea, after putting it on, he walked away slowly with his head down and, for whatever reason of physics, he was able to walk without the bell sounding. The last thing I tried was a dog backpack, which he wore only once afield, but I'll post more about that in the future.

Although I don't have any pics of the Buckster at Halloween, here he is knocking at the door in a similar "trick-or-treat" scenario. He sometimes had to be coerced back inside the house with treats, otherwise he would continue to play or eventually - if he stayed out long enough - be tempted to escape by squeezing under the lattice screen below the floor level of the house (the house was elevated on a post and pier foundation). Periodically, he'd come up to the door, check to see if a treat was on it's way or, if not, he'd turn around and go back down the stair. Finally, when the treat was offered, he'd come bounding back, full of enthusiasm. Soon enough, he learned that the more times he went out (or pretended he needed to go out), the greater the chance of getting more treats.

As you can see by the mud on his chin in this picture, he was beginning to lean towards "trick" instead of "treat".