Several times my little poodle has made a bad situation worse by not barking when he was in danger, so when I heard him bark outside my trailer today, I was both relieved and alarmed. Sure enough, it was the deer that likes to munch on the suckers of a dead stump on the Johnsons' driveway. She has two half-grown offspring who travel with her.
Since the little poodle can barely see, his interaction with mama Bambi was probably accidental. I charged out of the trailer and saw Mama "facing off" with the little poodle. She wasn't particularly afraid of me.
Actually, I think it's in the interests of any wildlife to stay frightened of Man; otherwise, they will hang around too much and eventually get run over by a car. So I thought I was doing the deer a favor by sending my 40 pound Australian kelpie, Coffee Girl, to chase the threesome out of the yard.
But mama deer was completely fearless. She faced Coffee Girl head on, and wouldn't yield an inch. Coffee Girl actually got underneath mama deer, where she could have been kicked and injured. You could tell that Coffee Girl was confused, if not positively insulted, by this impudent cervine's unwillingness to act, uhh, subservient.
But the dogs and the deer ended the encounter with no injuries. Now please, let no Bambi-lovers tell me that I was being cruel. Coffee Girl is not the threat that a car is.
Since the little poodle can barely see, his interaction with mama Bambi was probably accidental. I charged out of the trailer and saw Mama "facing off" with the little poodle. She wasn't particularly afraid of me.
Actually, I think it's in the interests of any wildlife to stay frightened of Man; otherwise, they will hang around too much and eventually get run over by a car. So I thought I was doing the deer a favor by sending my 40 pound Australian kelpie, Coffee Girl, to chase the threesome out of the yard.
But mama deer was completely fearless. She faced Coffee Girl head on, and wouldn't yield an inch. Coffee Girl actually got underneath mama deer, where she could have been kicked and injured. You could tell that Coffee Girl was confused, if not positively insulted, by this impudent cervine's unwillingness to act, uhh, subservient.
But the dogs and the deer ended the encounter with no injuries. Now please, let no Bambi-lovers tell me that I was being cruel. Coffee Girl is not the threat that a car is.
Comments
Thank you for 'cervine' in the posting of today.
Ed, as always, I'm your humble and obedient CERVant.
Bob, as visual animals we all have trouble imagining how the world "looks" to a nose-oriented animal like a dog or bear.