Afternoon Safari

Russell’s at summer camp, so I’m doing “dog duty” solo. After arriving home from spending the afternoon with my Mom, I begin taking the dogs out for their afternoon walk. As always, Cora goes first. She and I are milling around the outside when I realize that she’s become fixated on something. Of course, it’s the Kamikaze Rabbit that’s taken up residence in the bushes along the front of our house. I hadn’t put the leash on Cora, so I quietly walked up to her and snapped it on. She casually walked towards the rabbit, who then hopped to the edge of our neighbor’s yard, where it has gotten into the routine of watching, waiting and “baiting” our poor unsuspecting dogs.

Luckily for the home team, I had put my ‘thinking cap’ on and I realized that I could gently convince the suicidal bunny to move on and explore the neighborhood. I gently walked with Cora towards the bunny, who quickly realized that life was precious and decided to head off on some sort of expedition. What the rabbit doesn’t know is that Cora is the most gentle of our 4, and she had no desire to hurt it. She just wanted to “meet” it! Realizing that my plan had worked, and feeling rather cocky and proud, I headed inside.

My good luck continued as I took Ben out. He canvassed the neighborhood to make sure that no outside dogs were infiltrating his domain. Once assured that all was secure in his precinct, Deputy Benjamin Fife got down to business. Dinner was calling and he didn’t waste any time. Next up was Yelda. I quickly leashed her up and out we went. Of course, I was still feeling quite cocky over outwitting the rabbit. And I wasn’t paying close attention, and when one is out with Yelda, one must always pay close attention.

And this is where things went wrong. Not so much for me, and not so much for Yelda. Rather, things went very wrong for a little field mouse that caught her attention. When I realized that Yelda was avidly fixated on something and was seriously holding her ground, I knew that this was going to be something. She was sniffing the ground and before you could say Mickey Mouse she had a mouse in her mouth. She proudly looked back at me and all I could see was said mouse’s tail sticking out between her lips. YUCK!

I got her up onto the porch, where she spit it out at my feet. I was pretty sure that the mouse had perished and would not recover. I made Yelda go out into the yard, where she promptly did her business. I then decided that if I took her around to the other side of the porch, I would be able to get her into the house without her mouse. NO SUCH LUCK!

As soon as we were on the porch, she lunged and got her mouse back. There was no way I was going in the house. I despise rodents of any kind, and I don’t deal well with dead ones either. At this point, I had a major case of the creeps and my brain was spinning… what to do, what to do????

I remembered that there were some dog biscuits in the car, so I walked Yelda and her mouse over to the car. The passenger door was locked, so I quickly led them around to the driver’s side. I opened the door and Yelda prepared to jump in. There was no way that was going to happen… not in this lifetime. She then realized that I was going to giver her something to eat and dropped the mouse. I quickly brushed the body under the car, grabbed the biscuit and walked her a few steps away and gave it to her. We then went inside, where I quickly crated her.

Kira’s trip outside was uneventful, bless her heart. She sniffed around the porch, so she must have had somewhat of what had happened, but the evidence is missing. We returned to the cool house and dinner was served. So now all that remains is the body. As I see it, I have two choices. I can either park in the exact same place every day, covering up the evidence. Or, I can back the car up, retrieve the body and dispose of it in the woods. I realize that’s what needs to happen. YUCK!