When Asha was a puppy, she was intriqued by birds. She wanted to get close to one so she could give it a good sniff. Whenever she would try to get close, the bird would fly away. Asha doesn’t give birds the time of day now. She is SO over them. Then, there were the squirrels. We have lots of squirrels around here and they fascinated Asha. They even talked to her, which only increased her interest. But, whenever Asha would try to get close to one, it would run up a tree. So much for the squirrels. They can scamper all around Asha now and she just ignores them. But, there is one type of wild life that is plentiful in our neighborhood, that is Asha’s current obsession AND that has the good sense to stay on the ground where Asha might one day actually be able to get up close and personal. Rabbits, or, as I like to say when we see one “Asha, a wabbit!” We can’t leave the house without smelling where they’ve been in the yard and to be on the lookout for them during our pre-dawn walks. This morning we had the luck to come into contact with three, count them, three rabbits. Asha has never been able to get close enough to one yet; but, she got to watch them from a very short distance this morning.
Perhaps I should download the song “Wild Thing” to play to Asha. I can just hear it now…
Wild thing
I think I love you
But I wanna know for sure
C’mon on, hold me tight
I love you
Wild thing
I think you move me
But I wanna know for sure
C’mon… c’mon
Wild thing
You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing
proof of Asha’s intelligence, surely, that she chose to give up the chase of critters she knew she would never catch.
Sophie spent her entire life trying to catch a squirrel, or at least get close enough to one to have a good shot at it. When she finally did one day get close enough, she had no idea what to do with herself or the squirrel, so up the tree it went. Her fascination with squirrels never ended.
I would never fault Sophie for being steadfast in her passions. I have no doubt that the squirrels appreciated that she was true to them. 😉
Asha is similar to Sophie in that she does not really having any object in mind when she does encounter a small creature (other than to get a good smell in). I am rather glad that, unlike many dogs, Asha doesn’t seem to have a strong kill drive (if you don’t count stuffed toys). The smallest, most defenseless creature can scare Asha away if it demonstrates a little attitude. Heck, a piece of plastic blowing in the breeze is very frightening to Asha. She really hates it when seemingly inanimate objects suddenly move. I suspect that, were she ever lost and then found by strangers, they would think she was an abused dog based on how fearful she can be. And yet, the reality is that she is treated like royalty around here.