Beltane                                                               Summer Moon

Walked the perimeter, checking for holes under the fence line, about 2,500 feet (.5 mile). Nothing. My guess is that the neighbor across the street returned Gertie, our German shorthair, and inadvertently left the orchard gates undone. Gertie can jump in the orchard on her own, Rigel has to dig in (Vega always follows). Over the last 5 years however I have laid down barriers to digging that now extend all along the orchard fence line. Rigel did not enter the orchard under the fence, nor did she dig out under the chain link (the perimeter).

The only other exit is the gate on the deck. It was closed though unlocked. It swings onto the deck making a dog’s exit one requiring pawing. Not impossible, though less likely, I think, than the neighbor scenario. Anyhow Rigel goes to the pet groomer’s at 12:30 pm for a wash. She needs to smell better. Probably better put, we need her to smell better

Beltane                                                                    Summer Moon

While Kate and I investigated green options for our new home, our dogs got out. In the rain they explored the neighborhood, discovering, somewhere (could be on our property) something really smelly. Perhaps dead. A neighbor corralled them and brought them home, so we were notified of their wanderings by phone and their discovery by smell.

Rigel, chief escapist and (literally) dogged hunter, is the smelly one. Whatever she got, it was rank. They all slept late this morning, tired out from an exhausting day of freedom.

These guys differ from our other packs in that they typically leave, then come to the front door to be let in. Our Wolfhounds, if liberated, took full advantage. At one point several years ago, back when the dog feeding stalls were in full use, all five of our Wolfhounds escaped and were discovered by a dog lover over 2 miles from home. She called the vet and got our phone number. Turns out she was the mother of a patient of Kate’s.

I feel like I have a Ph.D. in dog containment, but this just goes to show that even the experts can exceed their knowledge base. Shouldn’t have left them outside so long. Convicts have all day every day to decide their escape strategies. As long as we let them in on a regular basis, this pack won’t escape, but if left in the rain for too long. Well…

Beltane                                                           New (Summer Moon)

Took the dogs in for their annual physical. This process has some elements of farce. Our dogs, who never leave the property, are not leash trained. We put them on leashes to take them to the vet. The two big girls, Vega and Rigel, pull like sled dogs only with three times the weight. Then, in the examining room, we sit, Kate, Gertie, Vega, Rigel and me. The dogs pant and stir around anxiously, going from here to there, coming to our knees for reassurance one minute, then exploring, excited, the next.

(Rigel)

Vega and Rigel are litter mates, sisters, and have never been apart. Since birth. When Rigel left for her exam, Vega was upset but stolid. When Vega left for her exam, Rigel gave a pitiful cry, several times, lay on the floor with her head in a dejected posture, ears flopped down. She kept this up for a couple of minutes, then wandered around a bit, later slumping to the floor again. Quiet this time. When Vega returned, Rigel didn’t jump and clap her paws together, she walked over and stood beside Vega for a moment, then returned to her usual way. Life’s balance had returned and that was enough. Could be a lesson here for us humans.

Roger Barr, our vet, had pictures of dogs he calls cold bloods, which, he said are the same as stag hounds. You may remember our interest in stag hounds from our recent Denver trip. Roger’s pictures come from a breeder in Abilene, Kansas, where Eisenhower’s library is and more important, across the road from the library is the National Greyhound Hall of Fame. I’ve been there and met Queenie, the Greyhound ambassador of the day, a former racer. Roger says they usually have dogs as ambassadors who were well known champions in dog racing. The cold bloods are beautiful, rangy animals with a look somewhere between a Scottish Deerhound and a Greyhound.

(Vega)

Roger says the breeder has a truck with boxes on the back and a pull bar in the cab. They drive over canyons and in difficult terrain hunting for coyote. When the dogs, with their superior eye sight (these are sight hounds) spot prey, the pull bar goes down, the dogs spring out and give chase. They have a speed dog to run the coyote down and a kill dog to finish the hunt though I imagine they hunt in threes or fours as most sight hounds do.

(Vega and Rigel)

Next year in Colorado. Maybe we’ll be hunting coyotes, driving over difficult terrain and howling at the moon.

Beltane                                                                  Emergence Moon

As parents of young children know, any absence from them results in stories of deeds and misdeeds upon a return. Just so with dogs.

In this case our German Shorthair, Gertie, caught a rabbit! She apparently didn’t know what to do with it because when Kate found her she was carrying the rabbit around, still alive. She would lay it on the ground, hoping, I imagine, that it would get up and resume the chase. Shorthairs are retrievers and that’s what she did. The rabbit did die and Kate spirited it away.

Gertie also slipped out of the yard, as did our two big girls last week. Unlike dogs of the past however Gertie, like Vega and Rigel, escaped from the fence only to come around to the front door to be let in. Much easier on the humans in residence.

Rigel, who jumps up and down when Kate or I return home after an absence, dug under the vegetable garden gate, got inside and dug up a flower bed. That’s why we have the (very expensive) fences in the first place. A soft garden bed seems irresistible to Vega and Rigel. Foiling (mostly) their efforts in garden beds and the beds around our fruit trees has not stopped the digging behavior. Our property has many, many deep holes dug by these two, usually in tandem, with one taking a break while the other digs, then switching places. Why, you might ask, do they do this? I have no idea. They’re seeking something, just what I can’t tell.

(Rigel taking her turn while Vega watches upside down.)

That’s all the deeds and misdeeds of the last three days.