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Did a Blog Post Save My Dog?

Good timing is important. Just two posts ago I wrote about how hard it is for me to keep the Little Cute One on a leash, except around roads or towns.  The visibility was good at my latest campsite so it is easy to keep an eye on her, here.  And the only animals are gophers or prairie dogs.  Or so I thought.

This morning I let her off leash and she did her usual dance/run of joy.  But she came back to me, quite well.  On a late afternoon walk, I considered letting her off-leash again, as her reward.  But I decided to play it safe.

A few minutes later, we got within 50 feet of three badgers.  They are such flattened, weird animals.  They are not fast runners.  If the Little Cute One had been off leash, she probably would have run the badger down, unless it got into its burrow first.  I saw their burrow and will keep my eye open for them in the future.

from wallpapergeeks.com

One of the badgers seemed more curious or protective than the other two.  All three seemed full grown.  But maybe the protective one was the mother.  She hesitated and studied us twice before going into her burrow.  Of course my little dog saw them and starting choking herself on the leash and howling her head off.

There is an excellent video on badgers.  It mentioned they like to dig burrows in soft dirt, and there was plenty of that since we were in a troughed meadow, soon to turn into a stream.   The video also mentioned how much badgers like to prey on prairie dogs and gophers.

My goodness, what chance would a small dog have if the badger got them by the throat!


Comments

Ed said…
You are doing the right thing to keep the QTÏ€ away from badgers. They would tear her up before you could even think about calling her back.
Ed, it would probably have come down to how close they were to their burrow. If she had reached the badgers first, it probably would have been all over for her.