Wild Dog

I mentioned in a previous blog that I have an Australian cattle dog. Cattledog.com states that a lot of experimentation went on in coming up with a dog that was perfect for herding cattle in the Australian outback. They tend to be a mix of Highland collie, dingo, kelpie, and dalmatian. Cattle dogs are ranked #10 in intelligence behind other herding dogs like Australian shepherd and border collie.

Caveman and I were watching a special on the dingo on Animal Planet. Our dog had sooo many similar features. She has white socks on her forelegs with the unmistakable dalmatian spots. Her ears are floppy, but when she lays back you can see how big and pointy they are. Very similar to the dingo and kelpie.

And smart! She's so smart it's scary. We've had to make sure to provide her with toys that will keep her occupied. One toy is a Kong ball. It's solid rubber and odd-shaped so that it bounces in weird directions. It has a hole in it so that you can put treats inside for the dog to try to get at. Our dog will toss it down the stairs, go get, it, bring it back to the top, and toss it again until the treat comes out. It doesn't take long. One time she took it out to our deck and threw it down onto the patio. The treat came out instantly.

We have one plush toy shaped like a tree with holes in it. It has three chipmunks that hide in the tree. The dog loves to quickly pull the chipmunks out. She has a plush cow with velcro appendages. She rips the head, legs, and arms off then waits for you to put them so she can do it again. She has a plush duck with lots of plush eggs that fit inside the duck. She loves to try to get all of them out beating each previous time.

On top of that, she has an immense number of stuffed animals that she loves to play with. If we're not there to play throw and catch, she will toss the stuffed animal up in the air and catch it in her mouth. She also loves to lay on her back with a toy in her mouth. Then she grabs it between her paws, tosses it in the air, and catches it between her paws.

She loves to walk although she can't stand seeing other dogs around. Her favorite place to walk is by the creek. The creek comes from down the foothills. It has lots of trees and grassland and is home to a fair amount of animals that come down from the mountain searching for food and water - tons of snakes, insects, rodents, and also deer, raccoon, fox, and skunk. Once I saw a coyote stalking through the grass. Then he stopped, pounced, and scooped up a mouse.

When we go on our walks, my dog acts just like that coyote. Those ears don't miss a sound! Every rustle must be investigated. And that is how she came upon her first field mouse. She heard a rustle, sniffed, saw a mouse scurry, she ran after it . . . it was gone. Dived under something it did, and my dog was left to keep on walking.

Each time we have walked the paths along the creek, her instincts have sharpened. She will hear a rustle and all four legs will leave the ground to land at the spot where the sound originated. If the mouse scurried to a different spot, another quick bound brought her to that spot. Woe (or whoa!) to the person holding onto the leash.

Her first mouse, she landed on top of. It squealed, and I'm not quite sure who was more surprised. My dog just froze, and I pulled her away. She kept looking back to the spot, but I dragged her through the rest of her walk.

Her second mouse was not so surprising to her. She pounced on it, scooped it up in her mouth, and brought it out of the grass. "Put it down!" I yelled, and she did. It just lay there. I'm not sure how it died. Either her weight crushed it, she broke it's neck (even though she had simply scooped the whole thing with her mouth), or it died of fear. She didn't protest when I pulled her away - mainly because some other dogs were walking by. Over my shoulder I hear that owner say, "Put that down, don't eat it." I knew some lucky dog got a free surprise.

Her third and fourth mouse were caught on the same day. She was certainly getting more skilled even though I was trying to keep her on a shorter leash. She seemed to find them everywhere now. The accuracy of her leaps was astounding, catching them on her first leap and routing them out of their holes with her nose. She scooped these mice more quickly, harder so that their little necks were broken instantly.

During this time, I watched with both fascination and horror. The fascination came from watching her speed and agility. It came from understanding that her eyes ears were attune to everything around her. I saw how quickly her primitive dingo instincts kicked in. "Hey, Mom, see? I could live on my own if I had to." The horror came from seeing the dead mice even though I knew that the dog was doing what dogs do.

The fifth (and hopefully last) time she pulled one right out of the grass next to me with no trouble at all - at least for her. For the mouse it was trouble aplenty. This time she shook it by its neck before I pulled her away. Each catch seemed to be getting less gentle and more ferocious.

It's time to start taking her somewhere else no matter how much she pouts. She'll have to settle for dominating her plush animals.