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Sunday, February 10, 2008

More boring dog stuff (aka "When Squirrels Attack")

I promise I'll have knitting later this week - and (gasp!) maybe even a spinning tutorial!!!

But for now, a Public Service Announcement: If you have a dog, please take a brief moment to check your dog's equipment. You never know when an evil, bushy-tailed mastermind will recklessly taunt, and by then, it could be too late.

Early Saturday, while harmlessly minding his own "business", Oscar was the victim of just such a squirrel-on-dog crime.

Yes, my friends, this sweet, innocent dog was mocked.

But he refuses to be a victim, I tell you, refuses!

He took off after that squirrel - determined to give it a stern talking to.


Unfortunately, through no fault of his own, there were apparently some trees that may or may not have been in different places than they have been for the past four years of his life, and the length of his tether was misjudged.

The rogue squirrel reached one of those migrating trees just seconds before Oscar reached the end of his (literal) rope. The little bastard (I have it on good authority his parents were not married) is lucky with his timing, because when Oscar reached the end of his rope, Oscar did not stop running (after all, he thought he had a good ten feet left to run, and he would have if he'd run to the right of a tree instead of to the left of it).

Nope, Oscar did not stop running at all. He did a funky kind of little flip, landed solidly, and kept running.

Fortunately for everyone involved, most fortunately for my cardiac health, Oscar is not completely untrained in the recall.

Because when he did come back, hanging from his collar was this.

Now, Oscar is about 48 pounds.

That right there is the clasp for his tether, packaged as the "Monster - for dogs 250lb and up"

*calculating on fingers*
48 is still less than 250, right?


And yet that metal (I'd guess 9 or 10 mm around - so a US 13 needle) snapped like a pretzel. Sure, a little rust around the edges, but the thing was probably less than six months old, and certainly not corroding away.

Just a motivated dog, I suppose. Or an evil plot hatched by the rodent population?

You decide.




Completely unrelated except that it seems to be a pit bull
I bought this on "clearance" at AC Moore the other day. It's an odd shape, so will be tricky to frame, though I'd like to do that eventually.

In the meantime, it's held to my fridge by four magnets.

One, the contact info of my wonderful vet, and the other three say "Beware Pickpockets and Loose Women", "Warning: Strange Dog" and "Attention Chat Lunatique"

7 Comments:

Blogger Bess said...

it's that bull neck - supposed to be the strongest one in the dog kingdom. The only thing stronger is the desire to obey the pack leader - queen o dogs gal.

6:44 AM  
Blogger Catherine said...

A great example of the power of the pit bull, they are far stronger than their size would indicate. But his desire to listen to you was stronger than the urge to kick some squirrel ass - he's a good boy!

7:04 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

There used to be a squirrel that nested in the tree right outside our front door. Periodically it would decide to taunt anyone who came out that door. If you didn't taunt back he'd get really cheeky and through an acorn at your head. Let me tell you, squirrels throw HARD!

10:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My sweet dear brainless dog was out on her chain when a thunderstorm started up, very close to us. Her chain broke. We never left her out in even vaguely cloudy weather after that.

3:25 PM  
Blogger Carol said...

The pictures don't seem to be coming up for some reason, but sounds like an exiting afternoon !

7:35 PM  
Blogger Jody said...

Now that's determination! If my 15 pound dog can literally drag me through the lawn to go after a squirrel - I believe that your 48 pound dog could break free.

I mean it's a squirrel after all!

10:43 PM  
Blogger dragon knitter said...

is that kind alike Dawg and Foghorn Leghorn? except Dawg got away this time, lol!

10:02 AM  

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