Dogs in Sunny Italian Springtime

The sun has been insistently splendid so far in our April Italian springtime, with temperatures ticking above the norm (so we’ve been told), and afternoons begging to be spent lazily. Which is okay with us, that’s for sure—we love sitting outside reading while the sun shines (and if we have a cold bierra or vino bianco, all the better). The dogs have been reveling in the weather as well, with Rory enjoying his favorite Italian pastime-of-the-moment: lizard hunting. The little Italian lizards are everywhere when the sun is heating things up, but especially on the rock walls:

Sookie would much rather sit in the sun and be petted, but every once in a while Rory gets just crazy enough that it catches her eye and ear and she checks out the hunting action:

before pouncing. Of course, with the sun comes pretty high temperatures, so a black dog like Sookie gets pretty heated with just a little lizard chasing. Sometimes, she gets so hot that she can’t even sit and be petted, instead heading for shade and greenery:

Eventually, though, the shadows start to overwhelm the yard and we have to head back inside. Of course, when trying to get Rory to leave his lizard-hunting, this is the look we get:

Ah, kids are the same no matter what species. They always want to have five more minutes of playtime.