When I walk the dogs, they’re mostly off leash, because there’s a lot of walking tracks, back roads and paddocks near where we live, and at the hour we’re out, there’s not many people up and about. So the dogs run about, roll in things, eat crap, and generally have a damn good time. There’s also a herd of kangaroos who live in the nearby hills and we come across them quite often. I’ve never worried about the dogs chasing them because, (a) the roos usually spot us coming, and if they don’t, I wave my arms about like a loon so they know we’re there, and (b) because my dogs are fat and lazy, and generally give up after a few minutes of running. The only time I’ve ever called the dogs off is when the roos are near the fences–the baby roos can’t jump that high, and they can’t climb through the wire quickly enough to get out of the dogs way.
That changed this morning.
A mum roo and her baby were up near the houses. I didn’t even see them, but I did see the mum roo sprinting away, and then I heard Ella making this horrible noise. I ran up the hill from the walking track to see what she was doing and all I saw was legs. Baby roo legs. I don’t think I’ve run so damn fast in my life. Ella had the baby pinned and was really attacking her–ever tried to haul a 50 kg dog off it’s prey? It ain’t easy. I did eventually get her restrained, and the baby roo hopped away. It had a wonky leg, and fell over several times, but it did put weight on it, so I’m hoping like hell it didn’t sustain any real damage. But I tell you, I was shaking. Ella is the gentlest dog out, but she’s also a lab and they’re hunting dogs, and that instinct is in her. It was scary to see her going at the roo (although I was never afraid that she’d lash out at me.) The trouble is, now that she’s caught a roo, she’s got the taste for it, so I’ll have to restrain her from now on. I can’t risk her catching–and perhaps next time killing–another little roo.
Now I’ve just got my fingers crossed that the little roo found her mum okay and that she really will be fine. Here’s the writing update.
Story–Captured by Vengeance
New pages – 6
Time spent writing – 1.30
Current page count – 161
Intriguing things – Riley is naked in the middle of a desert.
Annoyances – don’t know enough about policing practices in remote Aussie communities
Music – Dralion & Varekai
Location – The desk.
Taking care of Keri – lunch with my sister and a friend I’ve known for 37 years.
Muse food – supernatural is on tonight!
June 9th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Sorry to hear about your misadventure today. Don’t let it get you to down on the pup. We have four (too many) “rescue” pups and three are lab mixes. For the most part they are very gentle, and since I care for special needs children in my home this is always very important. Anyways; my reason for writing is that our Shephard/Lab mix brought me a baby deer (no roo’s in North Dakota) on one of our walks. I was devastated, and like you worried about future occurances. I kept her on a short lead for a while but felt guilty because her partners in crime were free to run. So I changed tactics. I would scold her when she would start to track prints, usually deer. Pretty soon, in her eagerness to please, she found our stick or ball throwing more enjoyable, then the wildlife in our area. Now we all enjoy our walks once again.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Sorry to hear about that. I don’t have any dogs, just one cat. And that is a very interesting update with your writing.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I have a lab/shepherd mix and a pure german shepherd. We\’re always afraid of what we\’re going to find when we walk out in the backyard. If it\’s stupid enough to fly over or crawl into the yard, it\’s doggie dinner (and that goes for humans too). My dogs are gentle as lambs with us, but they\’re still predators. You definitely want to put the dogs on a leash now that one has the taste of blood. It\’s going to do it again and you may not be able to pull her off soon enough next time. )-;
June 17th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Oh no! My dog did that with a smaller dog once and it was also the very last time we went out without a leash. We had thought we would be safe as it was 7am on a Saturday!
I’ve just finished Full Moon Rising and am looking forward to the next one.