Squirrel Season

   Pierre is a snow-white West highland Terrier, but more often than not, he is a dirty white.  As many of you are aware, he is living with us while his mom, our daughter, is living in Alaska.  Before he moved in with us, he lived in an apartment so he never ran loose outside.  When he first moved in, everything was new and intriguing to him.  The things that lived outside startled him.  He would jump when lizards rustled through the garden and wasn’t really sure about squirrels.  It didn’t take him long to adjust and start exploring his surroundings.

   He finds lizards fascinating and chases them as they scurry in the monkey grass and

along the railing of our porch.  We have quite a few tailless lizards and I think many of them have moved on to other yards.  Frogs still hold an allure to him, but we try to keep him away from them.  I’m still waiting for the time he discovers a turtle.  Bentley will bark relentlessly at a turtle, so I’m sure that Pierre will too.

   We were outside with them one night when a possum decided to walk along our back fence.  Pierre spotted him first and alerted Bentley.  The two of them leapt on the fence in a frenzy.  The possum hissed and ran back and forth which only
made them want to snag him even more.  My husband had to knock him off the fence while I rustled the boys back into the house.  They were not happy about their game being cut short.

  Pierre’s favorite thing in the world is chasing squirrels.  Every evening between 5:00

and 6:30 or as we refer to it “squirrel thirty,” he sits at the back door searching for any squirrel foolish enough to come down an oak tree and into the yard.  He starts out with a whine as he watches it get closer to ground zero.  When the furry rodent strays away from the tree, Pierre’s whining goes into full-blown berserk mode.  He barks and races in circles around the living room stopping at the door each time.  As I reach to open the door, his excitement level is at its peak.  He races out into the yard and his barking turns shrill.  It even manages to get Bentley hyped up for a chase.  Bentley will chase them, but he doesn’t really expect to catch one.  Pierre is certain that he will take a squirrel down each time.  Of course, he also thinks that he can catch our birds.  You can see his YouTube video of a big chase here (I couldn’t get it to link tonight):  Chasing Squirrels 

   

   The other thing that Pierre has discovered and the main reason that he stays a dirty white is the joy of digging.  We have moles that leave trails underground around the yard.  Pierre considers them underground squirrels and like the ones above ground, he is certain that he can catch one.  This has resulted in some major holes being dug up all around the yard.  He can dig a hole so fast that we are surprised that he hasn’t caught one.  We are going to have to get some dirt to fill in the holes, but I have a feeling it will only add to his desire to dig and wallow.  My daughter says we have turned her baby into a hunter!  My husband teases her that he wants a camo vest and BB gun for his birthday, which is this Thursday.  We can’t help but laugh at his dogged determination.

   Does your dog love to chase squirrels, birds, and creepy crawlers?  Let me know about their favorite prey.

This is the Monday Mischief blog hop hosted by Snoopy’sDog Blog, Alfie’s Blog, and My Brown Newfies.  Be sure to hop along and see what other mischief is happening this Monday.