Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Caught a Bird

Note to birds: Maggie moves at the speed of lightening. The birds in flocks sit upon the fence, taunting Maggie the dog. She runs at them they fly away circling just above her reach. That is the way the summer has gone, even flying just above her as we walk in the morning. On Monday evening we gave Maggie a bath holding her with the gentle leader. After the bath,My daughter walked her to my house and put her in the crate to dry. She put the gentle leader on a chair on the porch. On Tuesday morning I looked for the gentle leader over at my daughters . I couldn't find it so I walked with Maggie back over to my house through the back yard. As we were about to enter the door Maggie turned and jumped and landed next to the fence. It looked like she found something on the other side as she was squatting down. I went to see. She had a bird in her mouth. I said leave it. She put it down and I took hold of her collar and tried to get her away from the bird. She made the movement toward the door but jumped back to grab the bird and away she ran. The next hour I tried to get the bird away from her. I gave her all the commands she knows , sit ,stay, give etc. She did none of them she had her prey and she was not going to give it up besides she had me chasing her, a game she loves. I found the leash were my daughter had put it to dry and I took that with me with beef jerky trying to get Maggie to give up the bird.She finally tired and took the beef jerky for the bird. Maggie prey now is two mice and two birds. The rabbit still out smarts her.

3 comments:

Melli said...

Ohhhhh boy! She's a cocker spaniel isn't she? Aren't they bird dogs? Our Jewl doesn't chase birds... anymore. We had to get RID of our PET bird - a sweet little cockatiel named Snickers - because though she was fully flighted, Jewl learned to jump as high as the ceiling! Snickers couldn't get away from her no matter where she went! So dear birdy went to live with another bird family and is very happy. Jewl stayed here and digs holes and barks at everything in sight! (or sound) She hasn't caught a rabbit yet either - well - yes she did - a baby. But mostly she just gets moles. (bless her!) She barks at turtles and the occasional snake - but she's never tried to grab them! Squirrels are great fun to chase - but waaaaaaaay to fast for her! We have an electric fence - so she can't get away from us.

Unknown said...

Training her to hunt?

Lori's Minute said...

A dog that catches mice? SHe is a very intelligent dog and a pretty one, too. Spanky loves to be chased, too. He knows we cannot catch him. I love it when it comes really close to us trying to get us to catch him but we still cannot catch him.

We found the cards, I put them in the top cubby hole in the dining room...I am telling you this so when I say I cannot remember where I put them you can tell me.