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Look. Racing through the yard. It’s faster than a speeding . . . rabbit. Wait, that’s not the way that goes. Well, not unless you are Super Typhoon!
Scanning for his favorite target.
Hu-Dad has long insisted that we all sleep indoors at night. He says with all of the various creatures we have surrounding us, he believes that we should not hang outside all night long. The rule also seems to quell the notion of a 3 a.m. song fest, though we have been known to do that even indoors. Heh-heh.
By the way, you may be surprised to discover that Qannik is the loudest complainer about this rule, especially on very cold nights. Q-Tip loves being outside and grumbles about having to come inside.
Anyway, since we all sleep indoors, the only remaining debate is what time we get to go out in the morning. Cheoah would be fine if she got to sleep until 10 (decidedly not a morning dog), but Typhoon is an early riser. His preferred morning exit to the yard is 6 a.m. Ok, actually, it is about 5 a.m., but Hu-Dad overrules that.
Hey. I like being out here in the morning. It’s fun.
The challenge is that the yard is still dark at 6. So Hu-Dad has a giant flashlight that he uses to scan the yard for various critters before we can go out. Larger creatures are easy to spot, but smaller animals – like, say, rabbits – can be quite difficult for a human to spot.
But not for a canine and our sensitive noses.
So after yesterday morning’s yard inspection, Hu-Dad released Typhoon who took off in a flash. We should mention that Typhoon is really, really fast and very light on his feet. He can run fast, but he can also twist and turn with the best of them. And, yes, he can run down a rabbit in an open field. We know because he has done it several times – including yesterday morning.
Nothing outruns me!
Which brings us to the next game – remove the rabbit from the victor’s jaws – but we will spare you the details.
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Fi and Abby have both caught bunnies (not full grown rabbits). Neither Fi nor Abby is particularly fast, and both have been surprised when they actually catch one (I suspect the ones they have caught were part of the Natural Selection Program.. 😉 ). Luckily they both have the instinctive neck-snap move down, and “drop it” seems to be the only command that stuck with them from Dog School, so their catches are left in the yard (and we have lots of eagles and other birds who are more than happy for a pre-caught snack, so we don’t really have to worry about disposal). BTW, these are the same dogs who, when confronted with a mouse sitting in their bowl of kibble, noshing away, came barking to me with the clear “Mom, DO SOMETHING about this INTERLOPER” message. Mighty hunters they are not. (Thankfully, because I’m squeamish!)
My husky, Keeli, likes to try and chase the mice that are next to the sidewalk (there’s a big open field next to it) on our walks. Darn if one evening she didn’t catch one. Gross! Made her spit it out, but it was too late and that thing laid there for almost a week before it disappeared.
When we catch bunnies, Mom always gives us steak. We bring her the bunny to trade for steak. We think Mom wants us to catch more bunnies so we try. Steak is much better.
Mishka, Kodiak and Bear
When your husky’s a better mouser than your cat, you see who the top predator is.
Same here, my Leena kills far more man mice and rats than my cat.
My Poodles brought me a gopher once. Must not have tasted like chicken.
We had an incident with a possum… My Akita (she was a senior at this time) had to go outside in the middle of the night, spotted the possum and took chase. I heard a scream… Ran down and saw the possum belly up. Couldn’t sleep all night… Was so upset about that critter. Went out in the morning to dispose of it… And it wasn’t there!!! It played possum!!!
This happened to me too but my husky brought the darn thing inside! I thought it was dead so went to get the dustpan and he was gone! I managed to chase him outside…forgetting that my other husky was out there. Shelby 1 – Possum 0. I am glad I didn’t hear the scream! I’ve heard rabbits… shudder.
My Aries caught a squirrel believe it or not. Right in our backyard and it is not an open field. He was a very fast dog too before the seizures became really bad and before being on medication. My husband was out there when he did it and had onlyrics one picture and before he took it off the phone and transfer it on to the computer, he gave the phone to a friend after getting a new phone : (. So needless to say we have no proof anymore except memories. Hugs and kisses to the herd.
Oh hu-dad you know he was bringing you his spoils of war to share……
And
Consider yourself lucky….. My male shepherd once proudly presented me with a skunk.. INSIDE the house
Ahhh the joys of a working breed