Always Trust a Terrier

Or at least you should always trust them when rodent hunting is the topic in question. I don't have any photos of this event since it was dark out. This is just a story of how Sal and Chima taught me that sometimes they know better.

It was a dark and stormy night - really it was - the rain was pouring down and I was not happy about having to join the girls for their nightly potty break aka "evening hunting hour". I was standing in the middle of the yard in my rain coat hoping this would be the time they decided to actually go to the bathroom first rather than casing the nighttime landscape for critters. I know - unrealistic - but a girl can dream.

Not sure you've ever heard a high prey drive terrier with cornered prey but it's not pretty. The girls were pacing around the base of a 5' long bamboo hedge we have that is about 15' high and they were giving their rodent call. It's not barking - more like a scream of a tortured animal. I seriously was worried that the neighbors would think I was abusing dogs in the back yard. Both Chima and Salinas were frantic and screeching and no matter what I said I could not calm them down. I took the poop scoop and started whacking at the wood pile at the base of the bamboo, thinking if the mice living in the wood pile (that I've seen before when the dogs flushed them out) ran out, the dogs could chase them and get the screaming over with.

A photo taken this summer when Salinas decided to climb a photinia hedge to go after a squirrel. There's not much she and Chima will let get between them and a rodent.

Alas, no mice ran out. The girls seemed really focused on something up in the hedge so I said, "GIRLS, calm down! There is nothing in the bamb-" and as I was lecturing them I hit the bamboo with the poop scoop to punctuate the end of my sentence. Imagine my shock and surprise when a very large rat dropped down from the bamboo about 8' to the ground. We all froze for a fraction of a second and then the rat took off faster than anything I've seen before with the girls not far behind. I'm proud to say that I didn't scream (the girls were doing plenty of that) but I did run up onto the deck and stand in the middle of it with my mouth hanging open, and my eyes wildly scanning the landscaping for Speedy Gonzales.

He lived to see another day though, because while Chima and Salinas are experts at flushing out rodents, they are not at all skilled in making the actual kill. They are always too verklempt with the thought of a rodent being nearby to pull themselves together and finish the job.

Anyhow, the lesson for today is when it comes to believing whether or not there is a rodent in a shrub and there are two Rat Terriers nearby screaming "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAT" you really should trust the terriers.