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by RLHAR on 28 April 2011 - 19:04
So a year or so back I posted about how my male would bark, constantly at night and seemingly at nothing.
After some careful observation -spring being a lovely time to sit out on the deck with the dogs- I finally sussed out that he barks at birds.
The dogs' yard is surrounded by 40 pine trees, has a 20 foot apple tree in the center and a small Japanese Maple, so ... lots of birds and he takes it as a personal mission to chase each and every bird out of his yard. I've sat and watched him locate, track and bark a bird all the way from the apple tree, out of the yard enclosure.
Once the birds are out of the yard trees, he relaxes but ... come on, they're birds, of course they come back and then the whole hunt is on again. If the dog could figure out how to climb the trees and get to the birds, he would.
When he's out on leash or the SchH field, he doesn't even bat an eyelash at birds but just something about them being in his personal space sets him off. Of course at night, when the birds go to roost in the trees, this gets even worse, which is why he's a barking fool at twilight and as the sun goes down.
Mystery finally solved.
After some careful observation -spring being a lovely time to sit out on the deck with the dogs- I finally sussed out that he barks at birds.
The dogs' yard is surrounded by 40 pine trees, has a 20 foot apple tree in the center and a small Japanese Maple, so ... lots of birds and he takes it as a personal mission to chase each and every bird out of his yard. I've sat and watched him locate, track and bark a bird all the way from the apple tree, out of the yard enclosure.
Once the birds are out of the yard trees, he relaxes but ... come on, they're birds, of course they come back and then the whole hunt is on again. If the dog could figure out how to climb the trees and get to the birds, he would.
When he's out on leash or the SchH field, he doesn't even bat an eyelash at birds but just something about them being in his personal space sets him off. Of course at night, when the birds go to roost in the trees, this gets even worse, which is why he's a barking fool at twilight and as the sun goes down.
Mystery finally solved.
by Keith Grossman on 28 April 2011 - 20:04
These two used to make Darwin's work their personal mission by insuring that only the fastest, most resourceful squirrels in my yard lived long enough to reproduce.
by JWALKER on 28 April 2011 - 21:04
LOL....my boy chases the rabbits that are in my yard in the morning. He hasnt gotten one yet but its coming....lol
by Myracle on 28 April 2011 - 21:04
LOL....my boy chases the rabbits that are in my yard in the morning. He hasnt gotten one yet but its coming....lol
Be prepared to worm him, when it does. 
by beetree on 28 April 2011 - 21:04
Mine has made a secret pact with the resident woodchuck. I'm not too happy about that. Little birds he doesn't care about, but if you are a big black crow or raven, you have got to move on, it's in the rules. LOL
by Nans gsd on 28 April 2011 - 22:04
Emmmmmmmmm, yum, yum, fresh rabbit...
by dogshome9 on 29 April 2011 - 00:04
One of mine is good at catching wild ducks, she just chews the head off and leaves the rest.
by Sunsilver on 29 April 2011 - 05:04
Tasha loved to chase squirrels. (That's her in my sig picture.) There was always one surefire way to get her ears up for a photo...just say the 'S' word! It even worked indoors...she would run to the window, and look outside, even if it was dark!
As the squirrels were a nuisance, we gave her free rein to chase them when she was outdoors, and chase them she did. One day her dreams came true. A young squirrel was jumping from one tree to another, and it missed, and fell nearly at her feet. She was on top if it in a second. I yelled, "Tasha! NO!" She turned to look at me, and that was all the squirrel needed. It squirmed free, and dashed up the nearest tree.
Things got even more entertaining when I bottle raised a litter of feral kittens, and kept two of them. The male, Flynn, loved to chase after the squirrels, and unlike Tasha, HE could climb trees! He would get almost as high up as their nest. Tasha would be at the bottom of the tree, with her paws as high up on the trunk as she could reach, barking and cheering him on!
As far as I know, he never caught one. Maybe he thought they were some sort of strange tree-dwelling feline, and only wanted to play with them.
When she was younger Tasha would chase birds that were on the ground, but she gave that one up pretty quickly. Until the day she discovered wild ducks...
We were visiting a cottage, and the locals had been feeding the mallard ducks, so they had become quite tame. Tasha was fascinated by them, and, of course, chased them back into the water as soon as they came ashore. But WAIT! It seemed these strange new birds couldn't fly! Tasha dashed into the water after them, and started swimming towards the closest one.
The look on her face when the duck took wing to get away from her was absolutely priceless.
Undaunted, she started swimming after the next closest bird, which, of course, also took wing as soon as she got close. She kept it up for a good 20 minutes, before finally giving up and coming ashore. We were actually starting to get a little worried about her by the time she gave up, as it was October, and the water was very cold, and she was no longer young.
Okay, we MIGHT have been a teensy bit worried about her. But my husband and I were also laughing so hard we were crying! Oh, for a video camera!
As the squirrels were a nuisance, we gave her free rein to chase them when she was outdoors, and chase them she did. One day her dreams came true. A young squirrel was jumping from one tree to another, and it missed, and fell nearly at her feet. She was on top if it in a second. I yelled, "Tasha! NO!" She turned to look at me, and that was all the squirrel needed. It squirmed free, and dashed up the nearest tree.
Things got even more entertaining when I bottle raised a litter of feral kittens, and kept two of them. The male, Flynn, loved to chase after the squirrels, and unlike Tasha, HE could climb trees! He would get almost as high up as their nest. Tasha would be at the bottom of the tree, with her paws as high up on the trunk as she could reach, barking and cheering him on!
As far as I know, he never caught one. Maybe he thought they were some sort of strange tree-dwelling feline, and only wanted to play with them.
When she was younger Tasha would chase birds that were on the ground, but she gave that one up pretty quickly. Until the day she discovered wild ducks...
We were visiting a cottage, and the locals had been feeding the mallard ducks, so they had become quite tame. Tasha was fascinated by them, and, of course, chased them back into the water as soon as they came ashore. But WAIT! It seemed these strange new birds couldn't fly! Tasha dashed into the water after them, and started swimming towards the closest one.
The look on her face when the duck took wing to get away from her was absolutely priceless.
Undaunted, she started swimming after the next closest bird, which, of course, also took wing as soon as she got close. She kept it up for a good 20 minutes, before finally giving up and coming ashore. We were actually starting to get a little worried about her by the time she gave up, as it was October, and the water was very cold, and she was no longer young.
Okay, we MIGHT have been a teensy bit worried about her. But my husband and I were also laughing so hard we were crying! Oh, for a video camera!
by Kalibeck on 29 April 2011 - 06:04
We have chipmunks. Think they're cute? You can have ALL of ours. They're a pain in the arse!
They manage to chew through the siding on the house, make nests in auto air filters......& they taunt our dogs. They will dart between cars & trees right in front of them, confident in their ability to be quicker than the dogs. Well, first Kali caught one....then Beckett nailed another. Neither of the pups have gotten one yet, but they're learning! They don't eat them, Kali shook hers like crazy, then lost interest when it stopped squeaking. Beckett was so surprised he actually caught the thing, he dropped it again, & it bolted! I whole-heartedly encourage them! Go team GSD! We have Angry Dogs! (it is kinda fun to watch, too!
) jackie harris
They manage to chew through the siding on the house, make nests in auto air filters......& they taunt our dogs. They will dart between cars & trees right in front of them, confident in their ability to be quicker than the dogs. Well, first Kali caught one....then Beckett nailed another. Neither of the pups have gotten one yet, but they're learning! They don't eat them, Kali shook hers like crazy, then lost interest when it stopped squeaking. Beckett was so surprised he actually caught the thing, he dropped it again, & it bolted! I whole-heartedly encourage them! Go team GSD! We have Angry Dogs! (it is kinda fun to watch, too!
) jackie harrisby Sunsilver on 29 April 2011 - 11:04
Chipmunks at the cottage tease Tasha:
We came back from a swim one day to find one of them eating the cookies we'd left on the kitchen island! I beleive they chewed right through the siding of the cottage to get in, just as happened to you, Jackie!
We have chipmunks here at the kennel. The young just came out of the nest for the first time about 2 weeks ago. NO WAY are we going to be feeding them!
We came back from a swim one day to find one of them eating the cookies we'd left on the kitchen island! I beleive they chewed right through the siding of the cottage to get in, just as happened to you, Jackie!
We have chipmunks here at the kennel. The young just came out of the nest for the first time about 2 weeks ago. NO WAY are we going to be feeding them!
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