During interrogation, Ozzie confessed to the orange shoe incident. We have decided to put him on probation, and keep our shoes out of his reach. His episode with the shoe pales in comparison however, to the things his sister Sophie has been up to lately.
Warning: If you are squeamish, stop reading right now.
I have said many times that Sophie is a girl who needs a job. She is always vigilantly looking about for some kind of activity with which to occupy herself. She doesn't destroy property typically, but we often find that she has moved things about the yard when we come home from work. The broom dragged out, the leather garden gloves taken down from their shelf, the plastic jug of lawn fertilizer left out on the grass, clothes taken down from the wooden clothes dryer. Up until a month or so ago, she contented herself with rearranging articles during the day while she was left alone in the yard.
But now, it seems Sophie has discovered her true calling. She is a Huntress of Small Animals. And damn, she is good at it. My dogs are Welsh Terriers, known for their strong instinct to chase small fleeing creatures and skill at catching "vermin". Some Welshies are good natured goof balls (Ozzie) and others are extremely serious (Sophie). The breed originated in the British Isles for the purpose of keeping farms free of rats and other pesky creatures. When on a hunt, it was these small tough terriers that would go down the fox hole at the end of the chase.
To our dismay, Sophie has shown herself to be quite good at catching birds, lizards and once, a roof rat. Well, it was good that she caught the rat. But those poor birds... Anyway, yesterday when I got home from work I was going around tidying things up a bit in the kitchen and family room before my husband got home. I noticed Sophie sitting by the open back door with a rather satisfied expression on her face. Then I saw why.
By my gasp and the horrified expression on my face, she gathered I was not exactly thrilled with her accomplishment. I don't know exactly what this creature was in life--a gopher? a prairie dog? a gigantic ground squirrel? It is hard to tell from the picture, but this thing was BIG. It must have weighed two or more pounds.
I felt bad that I may have disappointed my proud little huntress by my dismayed reaction to her kill, but what am I to do? I don't want dead things on my family room carpet. My mantra these days is "Thank goodness we didn't replace that carpet". At some point, we may have to take it up and put in linoleum tile and a drain in the middle of the floor so we can hose things down.
So that is it folks. The story of how my summer is going.
It's a female thing. Our old Dalmatian girl had quite a long list of "kills" to her credit. Neither male that we've had has ever come close to catching anything. I swear the squirrels sit and laugh at Arlo, my current male.
Posted by: Liz A. | June 10, 2009 at 08:58 AM
that reminds me of the day my SIL's cat brought in a rabbit and proceeded to shred it in the middle of her shoes. Now that I think about it, maybe Elvis the cat was reincarnated as Sophie! Could you send her to my house for a few days, we've got lots of vermin that she could get rid of, especially squirrels and rabbits.
Posted by: Vicki W | June 10, 2009 at 09:14 AM
I would love to hire Sophie to send the squirrels around my house packing. While I don't want them dead IN my house, I would welcome a pelt to nail to a tree as a warning. We are simply overrun with squirrels since my golden retriever passed away. Give her a pat for me, but tell her to leave the "presents" outside.
Posted by: Taryn | June 10, 2009 at 09:48 AM
Oh, don't you just love them. Maggie is a terrier, and in being such, should be a good mouser. NOT! We have the occasional mouse here as we live near the country and she is oblivious to them. One day, however, she got into trouble and was scolded. To make it up to me, she brought me a present on my very light colored carpet. "Here's a dead bird for you Mommy! Do you forgive me now?" I'm getting very good at just shaking my head and walking away.......
Posted by: Jean | June 10, 2009 at 10:31 AM
Oh mom, it's just a big old squirrel. I left SuSu one in the dining room a while back. She was vacuuming and when she turned around and saw it, she almost croaked. I just giggled and giggled. Good work, Sophie girl. --Alabama Sophie
Posted by: Susan Ramey Cleveland | June 10, 2009 at 10:39 AM
like taryn, i would love to borrow sophie to get some chipmunks and squirrels problems resolved. our pure bred mutt has nabbed two possums and a couple of sewer rats. my biggest concern was the day she went for a raccoon. the last thing i want is her in a scuffle with one of them.
i have no solutions, just praise her and lock the doggie door...
Posted by: jeorg | June 10, 2009 at 10:46 AM
OMG Nicole they are so darn funny! Once again you've made me laugh and laugh!
Posted by: Carol | June 10, 2009 at 10:49 AM
You warned me not to look, yet I had to. LOL!
Posted by: Yvette | June 10, 2009 at 11:38 AM
At least the kill was intact! Our patio was the site of a decapitated and dismembered mouse or rat the other morning, courtesy of Mini the cat, with a very large puddle of regurgitated mouse meat next to it that was covered with ants. Thank god she can't get into the house without someone opening the door! Thanks also to a husband willing to dispose of and wash down the mess. Eww. She's a very thorough killer.
Posted by: AnnieO | June 10, 2009 at 12:10 PM
I saw your warning, but I looked anyway. Eewww. At least it wasn't in pieces.
Posted by: Lisa D. | June 10, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Yikes! I'd love to let her loose on the squirrels that frequent my bird feeders!
Posted by: Mrs. Goodneedle | June 10, 2009 at 12:14 PM
She's just doing her job......
How's the training sessions going for her? I hope there's an improvement in her behavior and she and Ozzie are getting along.
Posted by: Kathleen | June 10, 2009 at 03:00 PM
Meg chases the wildlife but doesn't come anywhere near catching anything. She just thinks everything is going to play with her-useless!!
Posted by: Ailsa | June 10, 2009 at 03:44 PM
We dont have squirrels in australia so I am safe .LOL. Hugs Mary.
Posted by: Nanna mary | June 10, 2009 at 04:45 PM
Yup...big squirrel, lol, they are cute out in the wild but in the yard they can wreak havoc. As far as finding ummm...deceased critters on the floor, well, we finally added a fence to our fence to keep our little 'bird' hunters confined to a smaller space when necessary. We have several wonderful species that nest in our pine trees (and a couple not so wonderful) and when the babies would leave the nest to learn to fly, they didn't get far if the dogs were out!!! When I was younger though, I always had cats and one in particular was a TRUE huntress. She brought home pheasants, muskrats (where she got THEM I don't know), an enormous gopher and one day she tried to drag her proudest kill through the pet door but it was larger than her...an adult skunk!!! She got it before she got sprayed but oh my gosh, I like to died when I saw what she was bringing in. My other cats favorite when I was a teenager was to go hunting giant dragonflies at night. One night I woke up because there was a very strange, loud buzzing in my room and when I turned the light on, there were 8 of the poor things on my bed, disabled but still alive. I threw the covers back, yelled for my dad and when my bare feet hit the floor I stepped on three more!!! Yuck...but my little 'Snooklefritz' (I liked weird names back then) was so darned proud. What a fruitful night she had and a frightful night for me. After seeing first hand, Sophie's skills I see that all my little hunters are in good company. Though it is a little disconcerting to find their prizes, you can definitely see the pride on their face. One thing you didn't tell us Nicole...who removed the squirrel? I would have had to wait for my hubby...
Posted by: Nancy | June 10, 2009 at 06:30 PM
OMG!!!!!!!!! If I saw that on my floor I would have passed out and been lying right next to that dead thing when hunka got home. lololol That is too much.
Posted by: Sharon | June 10, 2009 at 07:36 PM
It's a good thing you have a sense of humor!!! LOL! TFS!!!!
Posted by: Tricia T. | June 11, 2009 at 07:06 AM
Our beautiful, loving 6 year old, Border Collies, Hound Cross has killed mice and she maimed a Chipmunck by jumping on it and he poor thing was dragging around his rear end with this front Leg. Shadow just wanted to play with him and the poor thing was dying.
Posted by: Debra | June 11, 2009 at 07:41 AM
I wondered where our squirrel, Bruno, went! He's been missing quite a while - his wife, Twiggy, has been so lonesome - seems Bruno took off for California!
Cheers!
Posted by: Candace | June 11, 2009 at 03:20 PM
RIP Rocky. Better the squirrel than the shoes. We have 2.7 million of Rocky's cousins at my house. They fling themselves on the roof so hard it sounds like grown men are up there stomping around. Send the dog.
Posted by: Karen Kissinger | June 12, 2009 at 04:52 PM
If you could see the damage a squirrel could do in your attic,you would be proud of Sophie. I have even heard that a squirrel will go under your car and chew the wiring. So she is just protecting your investments. What a great guard pup.
Posted by: Kristi Archer | June 13, 2009 at 12:42 PM
No - that's a good doggie. I was going to do a post (completly off topic from quilting) asking for help getting rid of squirrels. They have eaten through yet another bird feeder, and went through 10 pounds of bird feed just in one week! We have a golden retriever and all that she has done is to just make friends with them - I swear she has.
That William Morris fabric is so beautiful!
Posted by: lynn | June 14, 2009 at 10:38 AM