The Squirrel Hunter

Foxy is a great dog. She’s very obedient and affectionate. She loves the outdoors and because of that can barely contain her excitement when she goes for her daily walks. She does spectacular pirouettes when she sees us grab her leash. Even if we hide our attempts, she somehow always senses when she is going to go out.

Part of why Foxy loves the outdoors so much has to do with sticks. She loves to find them and bring them to me or my husband so we can play fetch. She also adores rolling around in the grass. I don’t blame her! I love the feel of grass under my feet as well. As you might remember she thinks snow is the best thing since chocolate. Honestly though, the main reason Foxy likes to go outside is to locate her nemeses. Squirrels!

Whenever she sees one walking becomes an exercise in terror. She drags you towards her focal point with no regard of your health or ability to follow her. There were times where I could see myself crashing into a tree while trying to stop her. I have hit numerous garbage cans on Foxy’s squirrel hunting parades.

The other day though, Foxy and I were in the dog run. I was sitting on a bench reading when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Foxy had lowered down on the ground as if she were going to take a nap. I don’t allow that on our walks because Foxy should either be walking or socializing with other dogs. Foxy was crouched down for the kill looking at a squirrel just a foot or so in front of her. The squirrel sat there in the wide open range of her prey eating an acorn or whatever it is that city squirrels eat. The thing didn’t even notice.

I looked around and people were watching Foxy looking at the squirrel. Some one even took a picture. I did too because it was pretty funny. I started to coax Foxy into pouncing on the squirrel but she remained motionless. It seemed like an eternity passed as she focus on the furry tailed menace. Then the little vermin moved up the tree and Foxy ran towards it. She missed the squirrel completely, of course. I was disheartened because I really wanted her to finally catch the pesky critter whose family has brought such hell into my life.

The good thing is that spring is coming so Foxy will have plenty of chances to try to catch more squirrels. The bad news is I’m not getting any stronger or better at controlling her on her squirrel hunting romps.