Thursday, August 18, 2011

Decisions decisions!


This is Roxy. (Ok, so I've Photoshopped it a bit for fun)



I'm the proud owner of two pure bred Fox Terriers, one lazy older bitch, Narla, and a much younger miniature female who has the killer instinct. I point out that I never encouraged her to hunt, in a country like Australia where even tiny spiders can kill you dead it’s not something you encourage your animals to do.
Roxy, the younger dog finds and kills more mice than most cats could manage, in fact the only thing she likes more than hunting is eating; this dog is very food oriented.
Yesterday while I was busy in the kitchen and the dogs were lying on their bed watching* me.
*code for hoping I’d drop something edible so they could be onto it like a lion on a staggering Wildebeest.

I saw nothing, I heard nothing, but when the small dog flew out of her bed and launched herself at the open Lounge room door I knew there had to be a mouse in the house. By the time I got there all I saw was her back legs hanging out from under my Jason Recliner, a scramble of claws and she was gone… under the chair.
I got to the chair and lifted the back to let her out but I knew from the sudden quiet that her job was already done.
She bounced out with her tail beating wildly, a dog biscuit in her mouth.
The mouse must have taken it from the dog bowl and scampered into the lounge to eat it… but was seen!
She’d chased the mouse and recovered her treat, but clearly the biscuit was much more important to her…and wasn’t she proud of her achievement, parading around for a few minutes before eating her catch.


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These are not my two but show perfectly what Foxies are about.





PS: don't let your kids name your animals...


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11 comments:

Mags118 said...

Hi Tempo,
Oh the poor little darling, you photoshopped your baby, not nice. :)

It's amazing how quick these little dogs can be, one of our friends have a foxy and they move like the wind.

I had to laugh about the biscuit being more important, but as far as she was concerned she won. LOL.

Argentum Vulgaris said...

My neighbour has a foxy, called Herbie, named by his five year old. My old cat was Hello Kitty named by 7 year old Ellen... understand what you say. But then my last two cats were Meow Meow and da Meow, that was me, so who am I to complain?

AV

Pearl said...

Liza Bean Bitey (of the Minneapolis Biteys) brought a mangled mouse up from the basement last night.

We were forced to kill it with a shovel. Blech!

Pearl

p.s. Adorable dogs!

KaLynn ("MiMi") said...

I have a fox mix. Knee high and stocky. Man oh man! He makes me laugh so much! I call him Mr Wiggles most of the time because his butt never stops waggin! (He name really is Jack.)I know when something is moving because Jackson is right there! So I can totally see your story! And food (and dog cookies!)is more important than anything else! Too funny!!

Kal said...

Dogs that chase and eat mice? Good Lord, what is this world coming too. Next there will be police cats. I had a mouse once. I could hear him scamper at night...until that one nice...SNAP and he was done and then dumped.

Tempo said...

@Mags, Yep, she won the prize...I do wonder if she later wondered if she should have got the mouse first though...Nah!
Hi AV, It seems the kids get to name most of our pets eh? I guess it means more to them than it does to us.. I was once told that before you settle on a name for a pet you should go out into the street and yell it's name over and over like youre calling it home...do you feel embarrassed? then change the name!
Hi Pearl, I've never had to rekill something from the dogs, they always kill it quickly and outright, it's only cats that like to leave their prey alive for you to enjoy... LOL
@KaLynn, Hi and welcome. Lovely dogs aren't they? I spend most of my time laughing at them too, it's got to be good therapy to own a pet.
Hey Kal, I'm surprised that mice survive where you live mate, this season is shaping up for a mouse plague over here, it's been a mild Summer followed by a good Winter so they're still alive and breeding when there shouldn't be any...

Windsmoke. said...

Smart dog indeed :-).

Sarah said...

I like the names Narla and Roxy. Narla reminds me of that surfer slang "gnarly" and makes me want to say "Dude" a lot.

Tempo said...

@Windsmoke, Yes mate they're very smart dogs, but then I guess any hunting dog has to be fairly smart. Narla of course is so smart she knows she doesn't have to chase yucky mice, she did grab one once but didn't like the fur or it moving in her mouth and couldn't spit it out quick enough..a little slimy but none the worse for it's ordeal.
Hi Sarah, Narla hails from 'The Lion King' movie and Roxy is a clothing brand. I guess my daughter could very easily have chosen much worse names. : -)

Jen said...

Weren't terriers bred for hunting? Yep, cats seem to play with critters until they're dead. Dogs are all about the kill.

Tempo said...

Hi Jen, Apparently they were bred in England for hunting rats, the name 'Fox' refers to what they look like rather than what they were bred for. It's actually a big problem here, I cant take her out in the bush in Summer because she will attack and be killed by snakes, even spiders are a hassle for such a small dog, one bite from a Red Back would kill her in just 15-20 minutes.