Being one that is more than willing to give credit where credit is due, I’ve got to give ole Snot, the yard dog that is not our yard dog, credit for being a good snake sniffer. Can’t imagine how she can sniff a snake with all that congestion, but she can.
She did last week.
She treed the longest snake I believe I have ever seen. I think it was a red corn snake, but it was dark out and the flashlight beam pretty much only reflected off it’s belly which was white.
The old dog got her bark on real good, and up in the crepe myrtle next to the kitchen porch that snake slowly but surely slithered until it was well out of reach, stretched out up amongst the top branches.
Chalk one up for Snot.
She has been busy the last couple of weeks. Besides snake charming she is also into the excavation business having drug up some bleached out bones big enough to have come off of a dinosaur. I suppose she has found the remains of a long gone cow somewhere out in the pasture on the other side of the back woods.
Honestly I have no idea when she went exploring because she very seldom leaves the porch or the wallowed out spot in the yard where she suns. But she was gnawing away on a big ole bone Sunday and it is the fourth or fifth one she has selected from where ever the bone buffet is located.
Although I’ve never seen her go anywhere much outside of our yard on her own, she does like to walk and will happily go on a trek with my wife, Danny, up the dusty, dirt road and back every afternoon.
This past Sunday afternoon, though, she decided she wanted to help me mow down the front field and walked around and around following behind my zero turn before settling down in a spot right in the middle of the field from which she watched me go around and around until finally she had to pull herself up and out of my way or get mowed down with the grass.
As with snakes, she doesn’t like cats very much so the strays that had been dropped off at our house, like Snot was, have moved on down the road to the next house or two and the ole gal had to eat cat food rather than dog food for a couple of weeks, but that seemed to suit her just fine.
She also doesn’t like the resident armadillo and I wish she would catch it and get rid of it. It only appears when we’re not out and about so all we see of it are the holes in the yard where it has been rooting for roots. Danny did lay eyes on it once, I think, and said it was huge.
Snot’s opinion of skunks is equally adverse, but to my knowledge she has yet to come into close contact with the back end of one of them. Her time is coming I fear.
When it comes to our two little tiny chihuahuas, she acts like they all three grew up together. She has never once been aggressive toward them even in the beginning when they were very loud and barkful in their claiming of the territory out front. Pecking order, you know, and they both think they rule the roost.
Since her arrival at our place, when it appeared she had been kicked in the head by a horse or a cow, Snot has paid no attention to the pasture full of cows across the street. Out of site, out of mind I suppose applies to dogs as it does to humans.
Last week, though, as she and Danny were taking their dusty stroll, she all of the sudden realized she might like to chase a cow or two. Most dogs do, but I’m not sure she can stand another kick to the head. The last one literally knocked the snot out of Snot, hence her name.
Back to giving credit where credit is due, Snot is a very kind, gentle dog that thrives off of attention. She wants her belly rubbed, and her ears scratched, and likes being patted on the back. That’s why I can’t imagine why anyone would not want their dog back. Danny says she thinks the real owners were abusive. I suppose she is correct. Throwing a dog out is abusive in and of itself.
I do wish she would let the cats be though, and maybe not do all that sneezing stuff when she is standing right next to me.
Especially when I have on shorts!
