Before long, Belle realized K was digging and she went back to help. They were both back there for quite some time. Hubby went back to check on them and told me that he could hardly see Belle. I think he said something like, “If you hear a crash, that’s the shed falling into the hole.”
I just had to go see what they were up to.
If you look closely, you’ll see the dirt on both of their noses.
These two were determined. I had no idea what they were after. My guess was a groundhog. There’s one of those that hangs out in our yard periodically, usually under the shed.
K did most of the work. She really was back there for a long time. At least an hour, maybe more.
After taking the pictures I posted above, I went back to what I’d been doing. Shortly thereafter, K came flying out of the woods, shaking her head wildly.
She’d caught something. I didn’t see what it was before she dropped it. She couldn’t find it, so she tore back into the woods.
Belle, in the meantime, had circled around behind K and retrieved the prey.
I didn’t want either of the dogs to eat whatever the thing was, so I had to pick it up.
This is what I saw…
Let’s take a look at that hole again…
A hole several feet long, about eight inches wide and about a foot deep. For a small mole.
They were both very excited. I let them sniff the thing a bit before I shut them in the house and tossed the mole far back into the woods.
A little while later, I was sort of amused to see K and Belle under the table sniffing at my glove. I guess it still smelled like mole. One glove was on the ground already.
K really wanted to get that glove.
If I hadn’t moved it, she would have found a way.
Interesting story. Not unusual given dogs’ strong ability to smell. And, while domesticated, dogs still have primal instincts.
My dog Juno often chased the squirrels in the backyard, mostly for his entertainment. Once, he caught one and brought it to me in his mouth, beaming with pride. I yelled — Juno!! — and he dropped it. The squirrel, unhurt but frozen in terror, didn’t move for a second, then realized he could escape and ran off as fast as he could. Juno looked at me, confused, as if I was the one with the odd behavior. I suddenly realized that, as much as I loved Juno, his mind worked differently than me.
What a fun, interesting story and so nicely illustrated, of course. I love that giant hole for that little prey. Obviously these girls don’t do things halfway and they don’t give up once they’re after something AND they’re so very pretty.