cellini's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Happy Ending A nice thing happened yesterday. I was about a quarter mile from home, about to make the left turn onto my road when I saw a dog trotting along the shoulder. For a second I thought it was Simon. A second glance showed that it wasn't but I pulled over anyway and called the dog over. She was very friendly. Right away she rolled over to present her belly for a rub. Fortunately, she had a collar and tags. Her name was Louise. I told Louise that we had to get her back home at once and she should not be wandering around in the road like that. I took off my belt to use as a leash. We walked over to my car, I opened the door and hopped right in. I drove around for a bit looking for the address on her tags but I couldn't find it. So I took her home with the intention of calling the phone number on the tag (I don't have a cell phone any more, since I rarely have use for one). Fortunately, Minnie and Simon were inside or else they would have pitched a fit about this strange dog entering their territory. Alice was outside, but she's in no way prone towards fighting with other dogs. Trish called the number for me and found out where the owners lived. Louise had a nice romp around our upper meadow and then I called her back into the car and away we went. The owners seemed nice enough. They had a 2 week old baby. The guy had been out looking for the dog all afternoon and they were very happy to have their dog back. Louise did not want to see me go. She followed me on my way out. Louise was a very good dog all around. This was a good antidote to the 2 dogs I've tried to help by the side of the road over the last month or so but couldn't because they were already dead. Then I drove home and cut some rafters. I managed to install 3 of them before Ida showed up to play with me. First we played pirates in the attic of the workshop and then we went for a walk in the woods. I showed her greenbriar vines and taught her that she can eat the tender growing tips of the plant. Then we went looking for deer and tried to sneak up on them. I taught her about stopping to smell the air. Sure enough, we scented a deer while standing in the middle of the lower meadow. Deer have a sort of horsey smell. Like a cross between a horse and a cow. You can usually smell them within 75 yards if you are downwind. We could not see the deer. So I showed her how to lick her finger and hold it in the air to see which way even a very slight breeze is coming from. I asked her, 'if you can smell a deer and you know which way the wind is coming from and you know that the wind carries the smell of the deer, where is the deer?' Sure enough, she pointed in exactly the correct direction. The tree line on the far side of the meadow. Doubtless there was a doe or 2 feeding on the grass on the other side of that little strip of woods, staying close by the trees for fast cover. If it had been deer season then we'd have had a perfect setup. I would have had Ida circle around to the other end of the meadow where she would spook the deer. Naturally they'd have bolted for the middle of that tree line and run straight along it, where I would have been waiting with shouldered rifle for them to come past. But the point was just to teach her how to use her nose and understand how to use the wind to her advantage. She understands the basic concept. Later this spring I will start teaching her how this also works the other way around. That deer or other animals will always smell you when you are downwind from them, so if you wish to either get closer to them or just prevent them from knowing that you are there then you have to stay downwind or cross-wise to the wind in relation to where you believe that the animal is. 10:30 - 2008-04-30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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