Reinforcements have arrived. My Mistress has bought four boulders to fill in the holes that Shadow has dug. I think she’s kidding herself. Shadow is a sparky little creature who won’t admit defeat easily. I can see it now, a battle of wills developing between Shadow in the blue corner and my Mistress in the red corner. Given that my Mistress is competitive at the best of times and isn’t prone to accepting defeat easily I can see this being a long, bitter drawn out struggle in which each of them will try to erode the determination of the other. Given the will power I have seen from Shadow at just twelve weeks old, I don’t fancy the chances of my Mistress being the overall victor and that is really saying something.
With regards to the plant battle, my Mistress has changed her approach. No longer does she think that saying ‘leave’ to Shadow is going to put her off her addiction to plant nibbling. My Mistress is instead planning to plant the existing plants, together with a whole load more she has bought, in the front garden of the other house, where in theory, Shadow will not be free to roam and eat them. If you combine the determination to tunnel her way out with the temptation of newly planted bedding plants, I still think that Shadow is going to be the overall winner in the contest. Rather than participate, I’m just standing on the sidelines opening a book on the result. You can get quite good odds from me if you want to bet that my Mistress will win, but I for one wouldn’t bet against Shadow.