there’s something idilic about having a dovecote in your garden. just like a pack of huskies, there’s an enchanting pecking order with plenty of social interaction between all the cote dwellers. sometimes, after being out, you just park the car and watch the doves, watching you. they just sit like judge and jury paying careful attention to everything you’re doing. the cote inhabitants are regularly referred to as tree rats. the speed that they breed, it’s easy to see why some may not view them in the same light as us. we don’t see much mess, but it’s true to say the cars get the odd deposit of dove droppings. they do get through a lot of food and are very picky about what they’ll eat. everybody that visits us seems to enjoy the ongoing soap opera that is acted out around our dove cote. the doves seem to be a little overconfident at the moment with the dogs. they can be regularly seen bathing in puddles in the dog run only half a metre away from napping huskies. the boys think it’s interesting to watch them at the moment, but we’re just glad they can breed pretty quickly to replace any that find their way onto the menu.