Sad to say, My Favorite Domer learned from an early age that Easter Egg hunts aren’t as much fun as they’re cracked up to be.
When he was but a young’un, Domer signed up to participate in the annual YMCA egg hunt.
There would be prizes. And candy. And a visit from the Easter Bunny. And fun.
Or so we thought.
The day of the hunt dawned cold (typical Midwest weather). We arrived at the park, registered, and were shown which fenced-off area the kids in his age group would comb.
So far, so good.
When the whistle blew, the kids were off. Problem was, so were the parents.
Yep, the adults got involved in a kids’ Easter Egg hunt. They mowed down the fence and muscled their way toward the hidden eggs, knocking down little kids right and left.
Kids were crying and screaming; other parents were hollering.
Nobody had much fun.
Especially Domer, who, like his mom, doesn’t particularly like crowds.
Or aggression.
Our Easter Egg hunts then became more tandem affairs. I’d hide the eggs; he’d find them. When he got older, he’d hide the eggs and let me look for them (but mostly, he just couldn’t stand not telling me where each one was!)
Fast-forward a few years. Domer was fifteen when a darling Sheltie came to live with us.
Too old for egg hunts.
So we decided to hold an egg hunt for the dog.
We took some treats (broken bits of Pupperoni work especially well!) and inserted them into plastic eggs. One of us went outside with the dog while the other hid the eggs in plain sight inside.
With the hiding completed, we let the Sheltie inside to search.
He LOVED it! Amid much clapping and laughing and encouragement from us, he raced around the house looking for the eggs with the treats. Finding one, he’d bust it open and scarf down the tidbit.
So that’s become our Easter tradition — a dog’s egg hunt.
No pushing, no shoving, no screaming. Everybody has fun, and isn’t that what Easter Egg hunts are supposed to be like? Here, take a look at a few of this year’s hunting photos:
Finding a pink egg
Finding a yellow egg
Domer helps with the blue egg
Musings by an ND Domer's Mom 
That’s quite a story about parents shoving kids aside to get at the eggs. No wonder you changed to a dog egg hunt! Sweet story. BTW, your Sheltie is beautiful 🙂
Thanks, Kathy. I’d have never believed adults could behave so badly, if I hadn’t seen it for myself!
Over the past few weeks I’ve seen a few stories of towns that canceled their Easter egg hunts because of adults becoming too competitive and aggressive in past years. It’s astonishingly sad.
Yes, it is. To think grownups would bowl over little kids to get to candy prizes hidden inside Easter eggs is very sad.
An egg hunt for the dog – I love it!
He really got into it! The first time, he was a bit hesitant and confused, but Shelties are so smart. Once he figured out there were treats inside the eggs and he had to find the eggs to get the treats, it was his game!
Adorable! Thanks for the day brightener.
Thank you, Lynne — glad you enjoyed it!
Debbie, poor Domer and his first egg hunt experience! Why is it that some adults insist on stealing their kids’ thunder? Terrible! That said, how genius of you to shift the egg hunt to the Sheltie! I love it! She seems to be enjoying herself immensely, as I imagine, so are you and Domer! 🙂
Sad to say, the little kids who didn’t get any of the eggs — chiefly because of those pushy adults — were among the loudest cryers! Can’t say as I blame them! Sheltie is a he, my friend, but he’s getting used to being called “Lassie”!!
What a great idea! Rascal loves to find things and this never occurred to me. We will give it try this afternoon. Cole was terrible at Easter Egg hunting…we would go to hunts where there would be a million eggs in plain sight and Cole would look around clueless. Joe treated home egg hunts like a competitive sport–he once hid an egg on the highest portion of a window sill pushed back into a nook. Above my head and certainly about Cole’s head. We did not find it for almost a year. I’m still not sure why it did not smell. Of-course when they got tired of looking (Joe did not remember either) and I questioned the missing egg–Joe told me he ate it. Can you believe he resorted to lying on EASTER. Your idea is much better. MUCH BETTER.
Your Rascal will LOVE an egg hunt! It’s so much fun to watch them scurrying from spot to spot in search of treats! Domer was pretty good at egg hunts (the ones I did for him, that is). He much preferred hiding the eggs, though, which is probably why we started doing egg hunts for the dog!
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Thanks for commenting — have fun trying this with your dog!
I love this idea. Are Sheltie’s hunters by nature?
I don’t think so. Shelties are more known for agility and herding (people as well as livestock!). But they’re so darn smart and trainable, it doesn’t surprise me that he’s game for anything!
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Aw, that is too cute! (The Sheltie hunting eggs…not parents tossing children to find more eggs.) When our older son was two, we did one of those mass egg hunts. The kids and parents were pretty aggressive there, too. My husband went with him so he didn’t get trampled, but my son picked up all the eggs. He wound up with four, if I remember right – he was darn proud of them, too!
Part of me is glad to hear my town isn’t the only one with pushy grownup egg-hunters — though I’m sorry your son had to face it, too. He got FOUR eggs? Wow, he did good! When Domer saw the stampede, he was more inclined to run the other direction!
I love this idea! Is it too late to do one for Henry? Can I get a do-over of the holiday? Boy, Debbie, you are so creative and so very clever!
Dogs can’t tell time, Monica. Nor do they know what holidays are (though I suspect they know when Christmas is here!). Therefore, feel free to do an egg hunt for Sir Henry — I think he’d find it enjoyable, though with his regal bearing and all, he’d probably prefer having a vassal do the dirty work of hunting, haha!
That’s SO cute! What a great way to carry on the egg hunt tradition.
Those kids egg hunts should have some sort of limitations, like only allowing kids to find a specific number of eggs and then they have to bow out.
Well, at least they tried. I mean, they did separate the kids by age groups, but who’d have thought the parents would muscle in?