My little brushwood dogs are...

tsukitsunetsukitsune
edited January 2009 in Shiba Inu (柴犬)
OBSESSED with brush!

Well, at least Tsuki is. Since she was a younger pup she's been fixated on hedges and bushes. Her first kill was catching a small bird in a hedge in our old backyard, then nipping a squirrel's tail, then a mouse/vole thing and a small rabbit hiding under an overgrown pear tree that got away literally by the hair of his nose... and of course the occasional piece of garbage or pizza that she finds under bushes. Fun. times.

and that is totally fine, I'm happy her DNA makes her happy :)
Its just when she gets something that gets away but is injured, then I feel like a horrible human being. Today - its snowing (got another 3 inches and counting! yay!) and she darts under a bush on our midday walk making her little Xena squeal and thrashes something about - and I first hear then see a bird JUST get away, but its wing slightly more extended then it should have been. Awful awful awful. Injured bird in the dead of winter. I knew if I got closer to scoop it up they'd pounce on it again and probably finish the job so I kept walking feeling just plain evil.

I'm totally not complaining - I love their hunting spirit, sometimes though, I just wish I knew how to handle it better in the heat of the hunt!

In related news, I found a fun Tsuki puppyish pic on one of my older flash drives, she's probably 5-6 months:
image

Just look at those blood thirsty eyes.....

Comments

  • LeonbergerLeonberger
    edited November -1
    What a cute little serial killer :-P
  • dlrobertsdlroberts
    edited November -1
    Next time, can you try putting her in a sit stay and moving closer to the injured bird? I've been working with Joey on that for literally months, and he's gotten to the point where I can have him sit---*not* calmly, but he will sit---just a few feet away from something he wants. You might want to practice that before you let her dive into bushes. Just a thought.
  • SangmortSangmort
    edited January 2009
    haha I agree with Rui, a very adorable little serial killer. :)


    Tho I would feel bad as well for the injured ones that get away... ~
  • lindsaytlindsayt
    edited November -1
    Great picture. All you need now is a side view for her "bird hunter at large" manifesto.
  • tsukitsunetsukitsune
    edited November -1
    Let me tell you, she rocks the sit-stay down-stay in the house and in the obedience classes (CGC baby!) but outside, its a real draw. Outside is really the only time I've been subjected to a bad case of the shiba selective hearing, otherwise my two are pretty awesome during indoor training. We should work on it more outdoors I know... and I don't just let her dash under stuff, although I want her to have some sense of excitement on our walks. I can honestly say that my reflexes and response times pale in comparison to hers and therein lies the problem. We'll be working on it (sit-stays) more outside this year, hopefully after we get some above freezing double digits.


    lol! So true Lindsay. Maybe we'll use a close up of this shot:
    image
  • ZinjaZinja
    edited November -1
    ^^ looks like your Shiba ate a chick in that picture... or a bunch of peeps :)
  • SangmortSangmort
    edited November -1
    haha! Mass Peep Murderer! :) ~
  • baantonbaanton
    edited November -1
    Oh, love the old flash drive pic... that "old timey blue" coloring is just fantastic! How did you do that?

    Well, (I guess) I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone, and some other doggies are into that mole/vole thing... Josephine dug one up out of snow drift when we were up at the farm during New Years week... I won't go into the details... and they were gory (even for me who gets that prey/predator, destiny thing for a doggie)... I hate rodents, but I felt sorry for this one!
  • ngteren1ngteren1
    edited November -1
    you are totally right, my Katsu listens to command very well in the house but outside is a totally different story. Katsu also has a bad case of the shiba selective hearing....
  • tsukitsunetsukitsune
    edited November -1
    or she disemboweled her bed, Joe :))
    mass peep murderer, love it.

    Bev - I love that about her, she's my little huntress, but in town where we live, its difficult to come to a middle ground with her :) But at my mom's in the country, she runs rampant through this hay field on a 20 ft lead and has come back more than a few times with mole/vole/mouse/etc remnants!! As long as she gets them and they are put to good use (like, devoured) and not left completely injured and helpless, I'm ok with it.
    And that pic? I'm pretty sure it was on my Canon rebel with black and white film then manually scanned into my computer, so the coloring was sort of a mistake, but I like it too!

    Terence - Try hot dogs! Normally I won't give my dogs something that I wouldn't even eat but I needed something stinkishly irresistible, and yesterday we had like a heat wave (15 degrees baby!) and we worked a little on leave it when she darted for the bushes, and she listened maybe 3 out of 5 times for a piece of cocktail wiener :)
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