Hunting
Sunday, September 2, 2007
In the afternoon, I feed the Dalmatian. He starts looking eager at about 2pm, but I hold steadfast to the 3pm time. He does this with a great deal of enthusiasm.
He (official name Zane, but my opinion of the matter is his name is Buppy) would like to hunt. If a squirrel gets close, Buppy is quite ready to go after him. He Wants To Go Hunting.
But Sonia, who walks Zane and takes him to her house when we are out of town, really does not like that. In fact, she cared for an injured squirrel for quite some time, even taking it to a vet before it died. So she has a dim view of Buppy Hunting.
The other day we walked our usual route and along the north part of the route, he pulled back on the leash. There was something in the lawn that he was investigating. Turns out it was a squirrel, fairly small, not moving fast at all. But Bupppy was not in hunting mode.
He seemed to be in his "kitten" mode. When we picked him up at the shelter (a vet's office on a pig farm), they told us that he was really good with the kittens. I thought Dalmatians were good with horses, but who knew.
So the squirrel looks up at zane, and does not seem frightened. In fact, they touch noses. It looks like they are going to start a conversation. But I am a little concerned about disease, so I move along.
Well, wouldn't you know, this little squirrel follows us. Pretty slowly, but there is no mistake that it is coming towards us. Buppy can't take his eyes of this squirrel. They touch noses again. Not wanting to risk anything further, I move along our route. I look back (Zane has not taken his eyes off the squirrel) and we are still being followed.
So maybe he is really good with squirrels as well.