There’s a deer run through the wooded area between our house and the river. Although our property extends all the way to the river, we have a normal backyard-sized area fenced off for the dogs, so the deer sometimes come all the way into the field to graze.
Today when I let the dogs out back they started barking and raising a ruckus. The deer had been walking by along the edge of the wooded area. Apparently, their being partly hidden caused some excitement, because usually the deer are out grazing in the middle of the field, in plain view, and the dogs don’t even seem to notice them.
The deer were nonplussed by the sudden attention. They halted their procession and gave the dogs a kind of sidelong ” … what …” kind of glance, and stuck around a bit longer than I believe they had originally intended so as not to appear to have been “run off”.
This was very exciting for the dogs. In fact it completely distracted them from the acrobatic feats of Senor Sanchez, the squirrel, who daily makes his aerial trek across the oak and dogwood branches that bridge our backyard from fence line to fence line. It is the highlight of the three amigas day to stand on hindlegs and yelp wildly as Senor Sanchez transports his walnuts from one neighbor’s yard to the other.
I suspect that this is mostly a game to Senor Sanchez, who surely realizes that he isn’t limited to conveying his treasures over the heads of these three ferocious fenced in beasts. I support this theory with the fact that there are unusually large quantities of walnuts found in my backyard, despite the fact that the nearest walnut tree is two lots away. The dogs love the walnuts, and gnaw on them until they crack the shells and devour the meat inside. I’ve yet to determine if Senor Sanchez is trying to bribe the dogs or hit them on the head.
Best,
McKee