My Bird Dog

[The Chipmunk's Mom]

We had a nest of cardinals in our lilac bush and one of the babies fell out and was flapping around. Chip ran right over and grabbed it in his mouth. +SAD+ Poor little thing was scared to death. Anyway, I told Chip to drop it and he did.:SMILE: There wasn't a mark on that little bird and he wasn't hurt at all. I was really surprised. I wondered if any of your corgis were hunters?

[ZdogZ]

I'm glad the bird wasn't hurt and good for Chip for dropping it when you told him to. The only thing that Zia and Zeke hunt is bugs....could be why Zeke got bit!

[Crazy Cardis]

Maya stalks everything. We have a robin's nest right outside our door. Every time we open the door, she flies onto the ground, and Maya will chase her until she finally flies away.
Maya also stalks bugs, especially butterflies, and of course, the ever elusive bird poo ;)

[CorgiMum]

Good Boy Chip!+REDAWARD+

Dylan stalks the numerous little brown bunnies that we see along our street when we go for our walks, he is on lead, but would I am sure chase them if he was allowed to.

Montrose lays on the verandah as she always has, and when she has a mind too barks at the various birds that land in her yard.

[jcj528]

Zack is a hunter too. He goes after bugs all the time. Plus when we go for walks if he sees any birds hopping on the ground, he will hop right after it. He does the same thing with cats and squirrels. The strangest thing he ever hunted was a plastic grocery bag! It had gotten full of air and blew down our street only to become Zack's prey. The good news is that as he'a always leashed when outside, he's never caught anything bigger than a palmetto bug. I think that the South Florida fauna is safe from him. He didn't catch the plastic grocery bag either!:LAUGH:

[Dillydoodle]

bonnie, funny , i just told Linda in an email about a situation that happened two nights ago that sounds similar to your story. My hubby let Gus out in the evening, he heard high pitched squeaking, so he looked and Gus had a baby mouse in his mouth, he said drop it, and I ran out by that point and checked the mouse, it was scared and had a little dog drool on him but not a mark.. I was practically in tears ( poor little tiny baby mouse, it was furry but you could tell it had just opened its eyes as they were still squinty). I dried him off with a paper towel ( didnt handle him in my bare hands in case..) and put him under the bush on the other side of the dogs pen as i walked off, i heard a bunch of squeaking , the mom mouse was there to collect this baby! i was so happy... and relieved that Gus didnt hurt him... I dont really think that Gus' intention was to hurt him, when he dropped him, he more placed him down than just let him fall.. he was very gentle... makes me wonder... Not sure what Dillon would have done if he had been out there... I would like to think that he would have been as nice but not sure..

Emilie

[The Chipmunk's Mom]

Emily

That is such a cute story. I wish I could pick up a mouse (maybe not) I am so petrified of them. Even the little bitty tiny newborn ones makes my skin crawl. I never intentionally would hurt them though unless they are in the house and I scream bloody murder. I think my fear goes back to when I was a very little girl and overheard my father telling my mother about a little three year old girl that was hospitalized after a rat chewed on her fingers. I still swerve if I see a rat run across the road though.

[ColColt]

You guys would have had a fit if you saw what happened yesterday to me. I was standing at the back door looking out into the back yard, when suddenly I saw a for real Chipmonk running by the neighbors fence. He was headed toward me but stopped within about twenty feet and looked at me, turned and ran back toward the fence. He got up on his hind legs and accessed the problem, ran back toward me again and got a little closer-turned and went around the corner of the house, I thought he was gone until suddenly he came back again and got within nearly arms reach of me and just stopped!! After sitting there for a while, I said, "Well, now what are you going to do?". He looked at me again and dashed off toward the air conditioner. I went looking for him only to find a hole where he had dashed into. It was funny and I wished I had my camera ready.

[Dillydoodle]

I dont mind rodents, snakes, lizards, frogs, birds, nothing scares or bothers me except... certain insects, sharks and SPIDERS!

see my story would have had a totally different ending if Gus had picked up a spider! But a itty bitty baby mousie.. awww poor widdle guy!

Emilie

[The Chipmunk's Mom]

I may have told this story before but Jasmine has always been our hunter and she has appointed herself to keep our yard free of anything that she thinks is not supposed to be there including rats. One day, she had killed a rat and left it lying in the yard. I was home alone and afraid Aladdin would get it so I got brave enough to get a shovel and very very carefully shoveled it up and flung it over the fence. All the while, Jasmine laid there just watching me. After that if she killed a rat, she would hop the fence, drop it, and hop back over the fence. Smart dog. :SPINNY:

[Fluffypants]

Wow Bonnie! What a lucky little birdie!

Jackie is not much of a stalker, and I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that she would be so gentle! :LAUGH:

[LoveMySadie]

We have a purple martin house in the back yard that is always filled to capacity with gorgeous, graceful birds. Just a few days ago, Sadie came to the door looking extremely proud...with feathers sticking out of either side of her mouth.

Apparently a baby bird had been pushed out or had fallen out of his nest, and Sadie brought it proudly to the door, like the great wild hunter! Fortunately, she let me extricate the bird without any fussing. I was so sorry that one had fallen out, but glad that all Sadie did was "retrieve" it.

And where was Hank, the seriously-bred hunter? No where to be seen! :LAUGH:

Leslie

[Milosmom]

Last summer I was at a friend's home, she has a huge back yard. We were sitting on the patio chatting (waiting for her hubby to grill steaks) when I saw Milo focused on something. (That never bodes well). Turns out he found a bunny nest. I walked up to him and he was so focused on them he never paid attention to my approach.(his butt was facing me).
He was LICKING the bunnies!!
Not sure what that was about. Hope it wasn't in preparation to eat them! I wonder what would have happened if he had been left alone....One bunny in particular was covered in dog slober. Of course I made Milo leave them be. I worried the bunny mom would smell dog and abandon them.

I chased Milo away and re-covered them with dry grass clippings. Milo still kept wanting to go back to the nest of couse, the part that was funny was that he would lay a few feet from the nest and just stare at it.
My friend told me the bunny mom didn't abandon the babies, she still saw the mom come to the nest.

[MissGambler's+Mojo'sMommy]

But Mommy Bunny probabaly spent many minutes wondering about that new smell.

[Milosmom]

I wonder. With those twitchy noses...wonder how good their sense of smell is?! Ever since that episode, Milo is just FASCINATED with bunnies.

[MissGambler's+Mojo'sMommy]

That is so funny, did you get him a stuffed bunny animal?

[Milosmom]

No...because I don't think he would be able to distinguish between a toy bunny and a real bunny. I don't want him to "kill" a toy bunny and then go after the real thing.... maybe i'm just thinking about it too much.

He has a thing for frog toys anyway. Whenever we go shopping, he takes intestest in the frog toys, consequently, he as about 6 frog toys, all different looking. Go figure, a corgi with a frog fetish.

[MVons]

No...because I don't think he would be able to distinguish between a toy bunny and a real bunny. I don't want him to "kill" a toy bunny and then go after the real thing.... maybe i'm just thinking about it too much.I don't feel alone when today I had to decide between 3 colors on the hedgehog at Walmart and chose against the reddish dark one because it would be like the brindle sibling. I didn't want my puppy thinking it was attacking a sibling. Then I felt silly not knowing if dogs really see or determine color.

If we had our puppy during the blue jay nesting, there would be no admittance to the area during flight learning. The mama jay was upset enough with me taking photos out there.

Now with rodents, my dream is to have a hunter. Pepper hunted ground squirrels and dug the hole for me to set the trap for the vole. Now I am attempting to trap the vole that is very close to my front yard. It looks like my yard could be filmed for the movie holes in a miniature version. In fact when we looked at the latest puppy photos, I told my husband this is the whitest the faces will be because we have so much dust, there is no true white here.

Merrie

[bunnybutts]

:BIGGRIN" why do I hear that Caddyshack song playing in my head? "I'm all right...don't nobody worry bout me...."

I see you Merry in the bunker waitting for the little vole to pop his head up :LAUGH:

[manymuddypaws]

Wicca is a serious little hunter- she has been really close to catching gophers and is quite the mouser. She has caught a few so is always looking for the opportunity! I have only ever seen her catch and kill one- It was really neat- and gross all at once. Mice don't bug me as I used to work at a pet store, but seeing one squished to death in the mouth of Wicca the hunter made me a little ill!

and speaking of hunting, every year I judge obedience and agility at a Jack russell trial- I have gone for 3 years now- ever since Wicca was a baby. (I was there this past weekend) It is her most favorite weekend I am sure! They do lure coursing, go to ground, racing, and steeplechase. Wicca goes crazy! She thinks she is a jack russell and every year I let her do one of the terrier games- she has SUCH a good time. It is pretty neat. I always forget to take pictures but those terriers are pretty serious hunters- in go to ground they have to run through a small dark tunnel to a mouse in cage- they have to stay at the quarry for 15 seconds or something like that. The tunnels are a maze and they have to use their nose to find the right way. It was the neatest thing. Unfortunately for Wicca she couldn't fit in the tunnels but she REALLY wanted to!

-amanda

[Fluffypants]

:BIGGRIN" why do I hear that Caddyshack song playing in my head? "I'm all right...don't nobody worry bout me...."

I see you Merry in the bunker waitting for the little vole to pop his head up :LAUGH:

Hooray! I am not the only one! :LAUGH:

[Fluffypants]

Wicca is a serious little hunter- she has been really close to catching gophers and is quite the mouser. She has caught a few so is always looking for the opportunity! I have only ever seen her catch and kill one- It was really neat- and gross all at once. Mice don't bug me as I used to work at a pet store, but seeing one squished to death in the mouth of Wicca the hunter made me a little ill!

and speaking of hunting, every year I judge obedience and agility at a Jack russell trial- I have gone for 3 years now- ever since Wicca was a baby. (I was there this past weekend) It is her most favorite weekend I am sure! They do lure coursing, go to ground, racing, and steeplechase. Wicca goes crazy! She thinks she is a jack russell and every year I let her do one of the terrier games- she has SUCH a good time. It is pretty neat. I always forget to take pictures but those terriers are pretty serious hunters- in go to ground they have to run through a small dark tunnel to a mouse in cage- they have to stay at the quarry for 15 seconds or something like that. The tunnels are a maze and they have to use their nose to find the right way. It was the neatest thing. Unfortunately for Wicca she couldn't fit in the tunnels but she REALLY wanted to!

-amanda

I love to watch the earthdog trials on TV (also lure coursing, flyball, agility, schutzhund . . . ok, so any sport involving dogs).:CUTE:

[MVons]

:BIGGRIN" why do I hear that Caddyshack song playing in my head? "I'm all right...don't nobody worry bout me...."

I see you Merry in the bunker waitting for the little vole to pop his head up :LAUGH:I did see the darn vole pop his head up, but he saw me and I haven't seen him since, just two MORE holes....growl.

Wicca I wish you lived close by and you could have a hunt here for an afternoon exercise.

Merrie
The failed hunter of 2007

[Crazy Cardis]

Speaking of bird dog--Maya was quite the little bird dog herself. We took her outside to play for a while and she immediately took off to her favorite tree and started barking like crazy. When I got closer, I saw that she had found one of our baby robins. The little thing was scared half to death and started chirping at her. So, we saved the little thing and put it back in its nest. Ever since, Maya runs to that same tree to look for that robin everytime we let her out. Crazy Corgi!

[MissGambler's+Mojo'sMommy]

My only experience with Miss Gambler and birds is that everytime we go to Starbucks, these little tiny birds appear from out of nowhere and stay on the ground waiting for crumbs. Miss Gambler sees them as competiton for her Madeleine and doesn't really appreciate them the way that she should.