Boot burglar.

You may recall that last year baby dog Izzy annihilated my L.L. Bean duck boots. Ripped the inside out of one of them, chewed the toe clear off the other. He made a fine job of it, yes sir. 

He's gotten much better about destroying things that belong to others since then. His own toys he can and does destroy, but he's mostly left my shoes alone. 

But then.... WHO DID THIS?

On the left, my injured shoe. On the right (camouflaged by the wood) are bits of leather and the leather shoelace. 

I have tended to leave these boot/shoes on the porch, to avoid tracking in mud or anything else, or leaving them in the way of still-untrustworthy Izzy. Sure, I've been a little concerned that some bum, hobo, transient, bindlestiff, or vagrant might make off with them, but our place is outside of the main town area, and the fellows mentioned tend to be too lazy to come this way. But the other morning at four, large dog Tralfaz wanted to go out to relieve himself, and of course MeToo, FOMO dog, a.k.a. Izzy, did as well. Fazzy immediately centered on a spot on the lawn, and in the darkness I feared some skunk or rabbit had expired there. But no -- it was my sorely pressed duck boot. 

Was it a stray dog? That fox who's been hanging around? Someone's cat? A BEAR? Okay, not a bear, or the shoe would have been consumed and pooped back out. I've seen a lot of that fox of late, but chewing on a human shoe seems like a very domesticated thing to do. 

So it's a bit of a mystery, and I'm not likely to solve it. Considering that large hallmuffin Tralfaz was sleeping inside the front door, right next to the crime scene, and made no alert, I'm not going to catch the villain in the act. What kind of a security team do I have here, anyway?