Operation Tire the Terrier

There was impetuous pelting

Liberated leaping

Poor Mack has seen more crate time than I like in recent days for various reasons, so I resolved to take him on a long enough walk to erase all that and tire him out. 

Tumultuous tearing

Besides, it was one of those days when I hadn't walked enough myself so I wanted to rack up some steps.

Machinery imspections

At least he is the only dog I have ever had that will stay with me without being laboriously trained to do so. Even the most loyal of the Border Collies would leave me if they thought there was a sheep to chase ...or a cow....or running water....or a bird....or some air.

Not Mack. He will run and race and rip and tear, but he always comes back. And he has this thing for closeness, as in he will ram into your legs about thirty miles an hour if he can. Kind of a drive by knee capping. 

Thus I carry my old shaker stick from cow herding, collie training days....a Mountain Dew bottle with a few stones in it electrical taped to a fiber glass stock stick. Works the nuts. He isn't afraid of it, but he knows it's there.

Found some old feed bag

 We discovered all sorts of things. Although a dog can disrupt a birding walk by disrupting the birds, they can also alert you to things you might not see otherwise. Little dog  frozen in alert pose staring down the hill in the dim light of dusk....oh, cool, a flock of turkeys slipping silently across the road headed for the roosts....I would have missed them. Thanks, Mack. Mike stood on his hind legs once peering over some weeds into the hedgerow. Twin fawns, one dark, one light, snuggled together in hiding. I would have missed them too. He had no desire to disturb them....just wanted me to know they were there.

And then there were the coyote tracks. We know we have them, but I figured on maybe just a few. Instead, between the spring behind the barn and the 30-Acre Lot the road is completely mashed down by hundreds and hundreds of canine footprints. Some of them are as big as the palm of my hand.

Took it on tour

Are they denning there? The grass is all tracked and stomped in the whole area, but that is where we saw the turkeys. Were they just partying?

Coyote tracks were this thick over the ENTIRE road!

For myself I don't worry too much, but I was a little concerned about the pup. He is a toughy, but very small.

I think I will look for a CO2 pellet pistol and holster....I know, I know, it won't kill one, but it might make it let go and leave. I already have too many things to carry to consider a long gun. Then again, maybe they have been hunted enough to leave people...and tiny, white dogs.... alone.

Anyhow, I was alert every second while walking, which isn't a bad thing to be anyhow. You never know who or what you'll meet back there.

It was a great hike. Well over 10000 steps for me and nearly10 billion for him.

Was he tired at the end? Well, maybe.....

from Northview Diary http://ift.tt/1Sl0Xxq