the rain didnt dampen elis fun

[paulk73 151]

got a phone call last night off a mate who i havent seen for months, he was asking how eli was doin, and if he could tag along on our next trip to the allotments.

as i hadnt had a real do at it for a while, we arranged to have a little look at it this morn.

i arrived at my mate twiggys house at 9 oclock and he brought out hes overly log jrt with the queen anne legs. they had a little sniff of each other, all seemed to be going welltill the otherdog snapped at eli. then it was time to put the other dog away before they kicked off and woke all the neighbours up. off we set, and where at the allotments before we knew it. the rain was pounding, so we decided to sit tight til harrold got there to open the hen shed. after 10 mins he arrived, and fed the hens. me and twiggy set about blocking all the escape routes.(all we could see anyway). eli was busy scenting around outside the shed, when he suddenly stopped, and marked a big compost heap. he jumpped over the planks into the heap and was trying to get hes head under the tarpaulin. i moved the sheet, and straight away he had his muzzle in a hole. after a few seconds of frantic digging, he pulled his head out of the hole with a small rat in his mouth. this was dispatch with a massive crunch. i took this from him, and he moved to another hole, and dug out another small rat. 2-0 eli.(good start)

my mate twigg was well impressed, and keen to get into the penn. so we decided that me and eli would enter the penn and twiggy would wait outside and try and intercept any runners. i started the smoker, and placed the hose into the first hole. after a few seconds the first rat came barreling out, and eli grabbed it. 3-0 eli. after a moment or 2 i moved the hose to another hole and waited and waited. then like buses 2 came at once. eli grabbed 1 but the other managed to scale the fence, and push its way through to safety 3-0 eli.another move of the hose saw a decent sized rat bolt. eli was onto it in a flash, and was then set upon by the hens. they completely surrounded him, and where all pecking him, and attacking him. i had to move in and throw the killer hens off him, as he was getting mad, and i could hear him growling. when i got to him through the hens he was stood in the corner with the rat still in his mouth. he was looking really sorry for hin self. 4-0 eli. nothing else bolted so i turned off the smoker. eli went round the shed checking the holes, and stopped and marked a hole that had just been smoked not 5 mins before.(a lot has been written about the fumes of smokers, affecting a dogs scenting abilitties. eli has worked out, that the correct place for his head to be when the smoker is running. he stands off, watching for the runners. i have seen some videos where the owners seem to be happy to have thier dogs head stuck down the burrow, while they are smoking the same burrow. the dog is then breathing in pure exhaust fumes, and missing any rats the bolt from other holes. not really pruductive for the lone ratting dog either.) he was keen to get on in this burrow, but wasnt making much progress because the penn has a roof on and the soil inside was bone dry and rock hard. i called him out and managed to get the spade through the crust and take a couple of scoops of loose out for him. in went the nose, then after a little digging eli grabbed a rat by the back end and dragged it out. 5-0 eli. he wasnt finished just yet and dug one more out of this hole making it 6-0. we came out of the penn and eli immediatly ran round to the pile of pallets and began marking. i had a look, and could see a rat tucked away, before it scampered off to the relative safety of the inner pile. twiggy positioned himself, at the most used escape route, (iv done this pile loads of times, and know they usually run out of the side and inbetween the 2 sheds.)

i began dismantling the pile, and saw 2 rats getting off into the spud plants, eli missed this. after some more pallets and bits of timber, i came to a drain pipe, i tilted it up on end and could heear the tell tale scratching of a rat trying to get some purchase on the inside of the slippery pipe. plop. out came the rat, to be greeted by eli. 7-0.

i moved a bit more timber, then stopped. eli got on top of what was left of the pile, and kept changing positions. just then twiggy gave a shout eli wipped round and grabbed no 8. 8-0 eli

almost at the bottom of the pile now, just 2 more sheets of metal and a few bits of timber. twiggy said that he just saw a big head pop out and back in again. i lifted 1 of the sheets, and saw the big rat go under the next sheet. i told the twigg to get ready with his stick, i had caught him practicing with it a few moments earlier, slashing about like zoro. lol . it was a bit of a sight, a 20 stone man doin a peter pan impression

anyway i lifted the bottom sheet, and the ground errupted, not sure how many rat there was, but they scattered. eli grabbed 1, but i had my eye on the big un, that decided it was going to run the gauntlet of twiggy and his stick. twiggy had a couple of swipes at the rat, and it changed direction, there was rats scampering and clabering around trying to escape, eli was busy with his rat. i could see the big un was trying to make it to the corner of the shed to freedom. i shouted eli, and he dropped his now dead rat. he charged over to the corner just as i was about to persuede the rat to stop with my wellie bob.lol eli napped it. so that was numbers 9 and 10 accounted for. i noticed eli had a cut on his leg so decided to call it a morning and get him cleaned up. i reassembled the pile of junk, making sure the sheets where on the bottom, the rats feel safe under these i find. i picked all the rats up from inside and outside the penn, and put them in a plastic plant trough. just then harrold came round to lock up the penn, he was well impressed. he told us that during the week, he watched a female rat emerge from between the sheds and lie down in the sun, and 5 little unscame out and began to suckle off her. twiggy replied "bet you a pound to a pinch of s@*t you wont be seeing it this week." good old twigg always diplomatic wharever the situation. we packed up the smoker and spade, did a quick body count and realised we where one short. at first we coudnt find it(i dont like to leave em hanging about where people can come across em. in trees and stuff ewan :oops: ) i then noticed it in the locked penn. :oops: hopefully the other rats will make short work of it tonight. i also noticed when i got down to the bottom of the pile, there was a hole that led from the penn under the pile. (noted for next time)

 

 

 

[Brian-911 210]

Jeez got about half way through then had a look how much more you had wrote and decided not to bother !! Could of filled a newspaper with all that!

[paulk73 151]

Jeez got about half way through then had a look how much more you had wrote and decided not to bother !! Could of filled a newspaper with all that!

i know . got a bit carried away sorry pal.

[Brian-911 210]

Ahh fair play obviously a good day

[Elmer Fudd 2011 39]

a good read ther mate and nice pic a good day out with the dog as well

[paulk73 151]

cheers pal. was a good couple of hours, despite the rain. atb

[Moll. 1,770]

Great fun

[paulk73 151]

cheers moll

[Toka 10]

great outing and write up...glad Eli is still on the rats

 

atb

[ecostorm 2]

Excellent write up mate!

 

Like the pics as well...

[paddy mc 11]

very good day

[Cleanspade 3,322]

good write up and pics