Huntin' dawg...

Funny story this morning - Furry Husband had Toe out on a flexi to make SURE he peed and pooped before bringing him in....(he sometimes forgets to poo and then tries to go in the house)

Well Punkin, our orange tabby, comes along singing her death song... anytime she meows in a particular way, it means there is some creature in her mouth... she brings it singing her death song, drops it and walks away; satisfied to let her humans know she is THE Great Hunter of the West.

Furry Husband didn't hear her singing her death song cuz he was all focused on Toe and getting him to potty. I heard her singing her little death song but I was on the toidy inside peeing! (see? everything happens when I'm on the toilet peeing)

Then I hear Furry Husband, "TOE! NO! .... Toe... Toe... Toe..... OH! ... GAAAA!!! TOE!"

I come out - "uh - is everything o.k.?"

Bequia, the cattle dog, had been sniffing something. Toe ran over and grabbed it up in his mouth... Furry Husband didn't know what he had in his mouth .... went in, fished it out and was completely shocked it was a big, dead vole! He told me later - "Thank God it was DEAD!" That had me laughing for a while this morning....

Toe is definitely a HUNTER dog... and he has lots of DRIVE for the hunt...

He went out in the yard yesterday and the chickens were out... and this was total bone head on my part... Booker never chased the chickens (I chalked it up to the fact they must not smell like wild birds - quail or chukkar or whatever) and Bequia and Sammy don't chase chickens... and well.... Toe does.

He REALLY chases them..... with intent... so he was chasing the chickens and I'm chasing Toe.... (ever see Rocky anyone? Chickens is FAST!)

Toe caught one - was on top of it, had his mouth on it and then another chicken must've run past, distracting him. The chicken he had got away and he looked up with a mouth full of feathers... it woulda been really funny if I wasn't trying so hard to catch the little son of a ...!

And of course all the chickens keep trying to go thru the fence but we Toe proofed it by blocking off the bottom two wires so Toe can't go under the fence. Evidently this was the preferred chicken route as well. They keep hitting it and bouncing off and hitting it and bouncing off....


I finally caught Toe...

I put him inside and went looking for the chickens to make sure they were alright. The rooster, the supposed protector, of the "harem" was all the way out by the manure pile. When I was looking, the rooster poked only his head out from behind the manure wall - totally covert like a spy - to see what was coming. It was like something out of a cartoon - hilarious.

He came out when he saw it was only me. He was the ONLY one over there... I'm like - nice, you yeller bellied chicken! Leaving all your girls to be torn apart by the dog while you high tail it for the hills.

The hens emerged from their hiding places, the flock reunited and went about happily hunting bugs like nothing had happened, tho' I expect we won't get eggs for a few days!