Close but no cigar

[Neal 1,873]

Not sure if this is quite the right place for this but as I work my kelpies in a similar way to how I used to work my lurchers I suppose it's as good a place as any.

 

This is kind of following on from the comments made in one of Wild Rover's recent threads with regards to enjoying your time out with the dogs regardless of the outcome (made by me; not Wild Rover).

 

My short morning walk is around my local wood which is a small section of the Forest of Bere in Hampshire. There are no rabbits in this particular wood but plenty of squirrels and the occasional fox and roe. Due to the clay soil it gets very waterlogged during this time of year and there's one particular "puddle" alongside the footpath which is always covered with frogspawn. This morning the local mallard, which usually frequent the permanent pond, had discovered it and were presumably enjoying a frogspawn feast. Does anybody know whether or not they do eat frogspawn? The kelpies started stalking the mallard but due to it being an open footpath I didn't expect anything to come of it. Lo and behold, Scout just missed the tail feathers of the last one to take flight by mere inches. Now obviously, being kelpies, they're quite adept at stalking and catch a lot of their game in this way, Scout's caught a few woodies like this but always in thicker cover. I can only think that the reason she managed to get so close was because the ducks were focusing on Amber who, being cream, stood out more, which allowed Scout, who was about six feet or so in front, to get just that little bit closer than usual before they took flight.

 

Further on, just before leaving the wood, there's a small clearing and I noticed Scout stalking again. I signalled for the other two to stop and crept forward to see what she was going for. She'd spotted a squirrel, about two feet off the ground, gnawing the bark on a broken off branch. As it was right on the edge of the clearing I didn't expect anything to come of it but was still amazed at the outcome. She crept to within fifteen yards before it spotted her and ran through an overgrown path leading off the clearing and saught sanctuary in an oak twelve yards from it's original seat. What pleased me so much was that despite the fact that the squirrel only had twelve yards to travel complared to Scout's twenty seven, she made the tree right behind it. In fact, she was so close and so determined to get it that she literally ran six feet straight up the tree. I kid you not! I'm not talking one of those leaning over types either but a good old straight up and down type. Now, I knew she couldn't climb the tree, I'd hazard a guess that, despite the heat of the moment, she also knew that she couldn't climb the tree but the squirrel didn't know that she couldn't climb the tree. As a result, with 23 lbs of kelpie breathing on it's bushy tail, it decided to change tactics and did a U-turn; straight over the top of her head and made a clean getaway up the next tree while she was learning a valuable lesson about gravity and six foot drops!

 

She didn't look very happy but I was having a great walk!

Edited April 3, 2010 by Neal

[kill um with crisps 7]

Thats a brilliant story mate! Sometimes the best walks are the ones that you return from empty handed. Where in hampshire you from mate?

[stiggy 6]

got any pics of your dogs?

 

cheers

[Neal 1,873]

I'm in a small town to the north of Portsmouth.

 

It took me ages working out how to use photobucket about a year ago when I added some photos of them to the very long kelpie and ACD x thread that was running at the time. It will probably take me so long to remember how to do it again that it'll be quicker for you to find that thread.

 

Just had a check and my photos are on page 9 though Scout looks a lot less puppyish now.