A terrier's obsession.

kylith

The girls were acting strangely yesterday. They wouldn't settle and were constantly sniffing. Sniffing the skirting boards, the DVDs the bookshelves, all over the garden. And the whining! Oh, Jebus, a constant, high-pitched attack on the ears. I couldn't work it out.

As the night went on the restlessness got worse until at about midnight they started ripping at the shed door, so I had to open the shed, then I had to empty the shed because they were immediately into every nook and cranny. Whilst carrying a bag of sand heavier than I am a giant rat ran over my foot, straight up the garden wall, into next door's garden, and gone.

They know it's gone, but I still can't get them out of the shed. Every bag of compost has been taken out, every corner emptied, and still for the last two hours they've been going over and over it. I have no idea how long it'll take them to be satisfied that it's gone, until the rat-smell fades, I suppose. If I bring them in they just whinge at the back door until I have to let them out to stop the noise. Every now and then Tegan barks to alert me that she wants the wheelbarrow or some tins of paint moved so she can check behind them for the 50th time.

I always enjoy it when dogs show what their breed was created for. Collies herding kids on the beach, pointers indicating pigeons, and, of course, terriers single mindedly tracking down, unearthing and dispatching rodents.

**Vai**

kylith wrote: »

Whilst carrying a bag of sand heavier than I am a giant rat ran over my foot, straight up the garden wall, into next door's garden, and gone.

My god that must have been some rat!

Agree totally, I love seeing dogs doing what they should naturally do. My terrier rarely sees a rat but when she does you can see her eyes light up.

ppink

**Vai** wrote: »

My god that must have been some rat!

QUOTE]


LOL some rat alright:):)

borderlinemeath

There's nothing better. I have a working strain setter and she just loves flushing out game birds when out in the fields but her "stalking" is hilarious - anything from a garden bird to a fly or a moth gets the full "stealth mode" treatment!

We've never hunted with her, it's just in her genes.

Whispered

My dads setter romps around the garden happily setting butterflies. She's such a hippy dippy little girl. Gorgeous and so happy to be doing it. You can imagine her seeing everything in bright colours and humming away to herself while she does it.

DBB

Whispered wrote: »

My dads setter romps around the garden happily setting butterflies. She's such a hippy dippy little girl. Gorgeous and so happy to be doing it. You can imagine her seeing everything in bright colours and humming away to herself while she does it.

I don't know if I've ever seen such an accurate description of what a Setter should be like! A lovely image!:):o

carwash_2006

My pair of terriers have in the past ripped up the lino from the floor (glued down very thoroughly), put holes in the pipe taking water from the dishwasher and flooded the kitchen, climbed all over the shed, you would have thought they were cats the way they managed to scale stuff....all in the name of maybe one small mouse.

I have taken them to peoples houses and they have informed them that they have mice when they had no idea and when we are out walking in the evenings they can go mental at times because things are starting to get busy.

I'm not sure whether to say that they hate them or love them, they love to hunt them down and kill them, but they cannot tolerate them being in the house if they cannot get at them.

It was very useful recently when they informed me that there was a mouse in the spare room, I opened the door for them and they darted in and dispatched a mouse that had gotten caught in a trap, but not killed, poor little thing had even gone into labour right there in the middle of the floor, death by terrier is certainly a swift end for something in distress.