Lucky learns to nest

Some Greyhounds are nesters. Others are not. Lucky was not a nester. However, it seems nesting can to some extent be a learned behavior. As I was going to be too busy for a while this morning to watch him if he was loose, Lucky got breakfast in his crate via stuffed Kongs to keep him occupied. He has previously shown a preference for using his feet when trying to remove the contents from food dispensing toys and this was indeed the way he approached destuffing a Kong. I think he was a soccer player in a former life. So in the course of using Kongs, Busy Buddy toys, etc. he manages to get quite a physical workout banging, batting, smacking and digging around at the toys. This means his bedding gets a good workout as well. And so it is that the boy has learned to build himself a nest. This happens not only in the confines of a crate but also in an the xpen where he tends to move the toys to the area of his bed and then paw repeatedly at it until he simultaneously empties it and creates a nest. After ensuring the toys are empty he then rearranges his bed until the new nest is to his liking and plops down for a nap. Would this behavior continue if use of food toys ceased? Who the hecks knows.

Note the Greyhound below, peacefully dozing on his self-made nest. Also, note the purple Kong toy in the corner of the crate. This boy is quite the character and looks cute as a button sleeping in his flannel sleep shirt atop his nest. Just imagine how nice it could be to have your home graced by this sweet, silly, entertaining, young man.