Marnie wears pearls when she goes hunting for treasure; Fezzik dons goggles.
Neither really knows what they’re looking for, but that’s OK: They’re enjoying the journey and that’s the point.
Marnie (with the pearl collar) is a terrier mix; Fezzik (with the goggles — or doggles) is a Newfoundland. Both dogs belong to Melissa and Clint Ducklow of Ramsey, who like to bring along their faithful friends when they hunt for the medallion in the Love Your Melon Presents Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt.
“Fezzik usually comes with us anytime we hunt — he’s suited for the cold,” says Melissa Ducklow of the 2-year-old, approximately 100-pound Newfoundland.
Marnie, though, sometimes stays home.
“It depends how cold it is,” Ducklow says of the smaller, 4-year-old dog.
What must the dogs think of this search?
“If we are digging,” Ducklow says, “Fezzik is usually in there with us, seeing what we’re doing: ‘What’s happening here? Are we looking for something?’ But then he starts smelling something over here, or smelling something over there.”
And Marnie?
“She just likes being included,” says Ducklow.
Put another way: These dogs aren’t professionals, trained to search out the medallion. They’re just tagging along, like they often do on their people’s adventures.
“In general,” says Ducklow, “we go out hiking a lot.”
It’s a good activity for the whole family, says Ducklow. Both she and her husband are 29; he’s the local (originally from Maplewood) and she’s the transplant (from Milaca) who persuaded her husband to begin a tradition of hunting for the medallion.
“It’s something fun to do in the winter,” she says. “I like puzzles and it gets people out at a time of year when people are usually shut in.”
For dogs, it’s surely more fun than the daily, quick trudge around the neighborhood in the winter.
FYI
Follow along on Fezzik and Marnie’s adventures via their Instagram pages: Fezzik’s handle is @i_am_the_brute_squad and Marnie is @marniethetravelingterrier.
Copyright 2020 Pioneer Press.