# Lady Kills Squirrels!



## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

The other day, Lady disappeared into the game room during our after work game of ball toss. She LOVES this game and I went toward the game room thinking the ball went under the sofa or something. Out bounded Lady with a HUGE dead squirrel in her mouth....it was almost as big as she is!

I screamed...(oops!) and called for my husband and we chased lady into the bedroom where she dropped the squirrel and ran under the bed. We were freaked that she had brought the thing into the house and we really scared her with the yelling and all...she's never been yelled at before! So, we got rid of the squirrel in the garbage. Poor Lady, I didn't do anything but scream, she was confused!

THen, tonight, she and INdie greeted me for the game as usual, but Lady ran after the ball only once then bounded outside....???? Never does that! Hubby is home with dogs all day every day...she comes in AGAIN and almost made it into the doggie door with another dead, large, squirrel....
We have a bird feeder that attracts the squirrels, but it is way too high for the dogs to get at. They chase them , but usually the squirrels sit and eat nuts while the dogs bark..
What do you think is happening? Lady has chased squirrels since she was tiny. How did she suddenly become such a sucessful hunter!?


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

Is there any market for Squirrel meat in yr area? . . . or skins?? 

JK, naturally... 

Tonka desperately wants to taste a Squirrel. lol Too many trees around here, tho. And always too close . . . pooooor dog! out: lol

Spud was trotting down the lane this morning ahead of me as I watched a Squirrel run across his path. He never even broke stride . . just kept trotting. He watched the Squirrel as it ran by but wasn't interested a bit in chasing it. Goooood boy!!


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

Ewe, squirrel steaks! Not in Dallas! Ya know, we have lots of trees, too, big old Live Oaks, I cannot understand how she got two of 'em out of those trees in a row! Granted, it IS her hobby, squirrel watching...

Tonka and Spud can come to our neighborhood, it is squirrel city and Lady would love to romp with your boys and teach them how to squirrel hunt Texas style!


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

Really impressive! My boy has been wanting to nab those suckers for ages. He is never successful. He is way too clumsy and the squirrels are long gone before he gets there.

This video reminds me of your dead squirrel story...


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

OMG! Imagine letting your child play with a dead squirrel! I thought he'd never get her in to take a bath! Gross...I freaked when she brought it in the doggie door...

Be glad Leroy is slow to catch them....be very glad...

Hey, where in Tx are you?


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

I would freak if my dog or child brought in a dead squirrel! I'm in Houston, TX


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## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

Not to impune Lady's hunting prowess, but might it be that something else killed those squirrels, and she just found them? I'd be concerned they were killed by poison or even rabies.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

I was thinking the same thing, Leeuman. It is hard for me to believe a mini poodle could nap and kill a large squirrel. Squirrels are fast and you would have heard it shreeking (they do shreek when attacked). I would be worried they died and fell out of the trees. I hope she didn't take a bite of them....


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

We'll never know. No loose dogs around, 6 foot fence enclosing the entire large yard. Some cats get in sometimes. I don't know if she bit into them or not, the squirrels were intact. My husband does graphic arts out of the house and offices on the back porch overlooking the yard when it's nice. However, it's been too cold, especially in the late afternoon and both times he was in the house that afternoon. He keeps the news on in the background so if may have muffled a squirrel scream.
The squirrels are very, very bold. They taunt the dogs when they escape and run up a tree, they chatter at them, just out of reach. And they are burying acorns these days, all over the yard. . Lady spends a lot of time stalking them and becomes a blur when she's chasing them. In retrospect we aren't too surprised that she finally got a couple. If she did....I sure hope it wasn't rabies or poison...


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## Poodle Head (Sep 12, 2011)

My pup caught one a few weeks back. I have always let her chase them in the yard because she really never even came close to getting one. Well, she finally did - once it was in her mouth she had no idea what to do with it! She didn't bite down because it didn't scream or anything - it just started squirming around and she immediately dropped it. Pretty gross, but also sort of funny - it's like her instincts told her to catch it, but that's where her wild poodliness ended.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

My long-legged Standards would never catch a Squirrel. It takes them too long to get 'up to speed'. If we ever get down there, they could probably chase some of those Texas Deer around a bit tho.  lol

Minis may be fast enuf to catch Squirrels tho. I don't know for sure, never having had one, but they must be a lot faster than the bigger guys . . and gals.


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## Jkline65 (Feb 23, 2011)

Maggie snatched a Robin right out of the air as it flew by once. It was amazing and gross at the same time. All the neighbors were out, and pretty impressed, we were hanging out on the back porch....I was like "lets see all your Labs do that!!" :aetsch:


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

I use to have a pet squirrel. They are smarter than you think. He use to come when called and roll over. It would be very unusual for a dog to be successful in catching a squirrel two days in a row so I think poisen may be a possibility. You might want to ask your neighbors is they know anything.


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## PoodlePowerBC (Feb 25, 2011)

My last standard had a very strong prey drive and was an excellent hunter. He killed numerous rabbits, and we also have LOTS of squirrels around. But as far as I know, the only squirrelly he ever caught was a young one that was definitely not healthy. I agree with Outwest, probably something wrong with it if a dog caught it


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## taem (Mar 5, 2011)

Your story so reminded me of one of my toys I had as a kid. I saw her go through this process, first pointing, then chasing, then stalking, then finally ambushing. I don't know how many she killed herself and how many were just dead ones she found, but she brought home a lot of birds. I was appalled but she was so happy and proud I always just threw them away without any whoop, and then one day she ran into the house and dropped a bird at my feet and my mom was right there, and that was quite a scene. Lots of screaming. She was so confused.

Since then I read Patricia McConnell and she has a story about one of her border collies bringing home a putrid dead rabbit and she played tug and fetch with it with her dog for a while. My kind of dog trainer.


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## Chagall's mom (Jan 9, 2010)

I'm sure a mini can catch a squirrel, Chagall has come mighty close a few times but my interference has ruined his hunt.:vroam: I'd just be careful your minis don't get worms or any other parasites from those bothersome squirrels. I'm sure you keep a watchful eye!


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## apriljean80 (Aug 23, 2010)

Ok the video of the little girl with the squirrel cracked me up. It reminded me of the first time my husband brought home a turkey and dressed it: my girls watched, fascinated, not disturbed one bit. My youngest wasn't quite two and she giggled every time feathers flew. 

It also reminded me of a story my mom tells me about growing up. My mom grew up in South east MO, well, the bootheel and then southeast mo. They were very poor and Grandpa hunted and they ate what he harvested. Mom said her and her sisters would pet (not sure they actually picked up but could have) the animals he brought back. Grandpa hunted just about every animal in its season but loved **** hunting. She said Grandpa would get back in the morning from the hunt, Grandma would fix breakfast and the girls would pet the racoons. Then they would cry when it came time to skin/dress them! 

We had one winter when we had several squirrels drown in our stock tank until we finally managed to fix an escape route that didn't fail. I don't know about them being sick, we had a neighbors boston terrier that was a terrific hunter and that dog caught ALL kinds of animals.


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## taem (Mar 5, 2011)

apriljean80 said:


> It also reminded me of a story my mom tells me about growing up. My mom grew up in South east MO, well, the bootheel and then southeast mo. They were very poor and Grandpa hunted and they ate what he harvested. Mom said her and her sisters would pet (not sure they actually picked up but could have) the animals he brought back. Grandpa hunted just about every animal in its season but loved **** hunting. She said Grandpa would get back in the morning from the hunt, Grandma would fix breakfast and the girls would pet the racoons. Then they would cry when it came time to skin/dress them!


That story reminded me of Wilson Rawl's Where the Red Fern Grows. I haven't thought about that book in years! Man I loved that book, that and Summer of the Monkeys, and Sterling North's Rascal, and Jim Kjielgaard's Big Red books, oh man it's all rushing through my head now. And let's not forget Incredible Journey. But Where the Red Fern Grows, that's my favorite. I just know if I read that again right now I'd be crying for days.


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## apriljean80 (Aug 23, 2010)

taem-I loved all those books too. I too loved Where the Red Fern Grows and remember bawling my eyes out while reading them. I also read books about Billy and Blaze (his horse) I REALLY need to find those, my little girl is becoming quite the reader herself and I think she'd love them too. 

I still vaguely remember Grandpa having **** hounds, but his health limited him when I was pretty young. He had a couple beagles that he rabbit hunted with until he had an anuerism( I know that isn't spelled right but have limited time). He took me rabbit hunting a few times...nothing quite like listening to a beagle run a rabbit(although, my first dog was a beagle so I'm biased) I can still remember what his bay sounded like.


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## taem (Mar 5, 2011)

apriljean80 said:


> I still vaguely remember Grandpa having **** hounds, but his health limited him when I was pretty young. He had a couple beagles that he rabbit hunted with until he had an anuerism( I know that isn't spelled right but have limited time). He took me rabbit hunting a few times...nothing quite like listening to a beagle run a rabbit(although, my first dog was a beagle so I'm biased) I can still remember what his bay sounded like.


You're so lucky to have experienced that, ever since that book, **** hounds in Missouri, to me, that's almost mythical, something magical. I grew up in Kansas just across the border btw, used to go tramping around the Ozarks all the time and pretend I was hunting raccoon to get my sis the surgery she needs lol, that whole area is one of America's best kept secrets imho.

I've always wanted to hunt. Seems so romantic. But I could never shoot anything, except perhaps a particularly heinous human. Anyway hunting dogs just seem to have something, this noble air, like they know they're not pets, they're partners.


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

Well, I intend to question the neighbors while out walking the dogs this weekend. Rest assured, our dogs sleep in our bed, so there will be no fleas and I will have a close eye on their poop for anything undesirable! 
Still leaning towards Lady being a real squirrel catcher, but will thoroughly investigate, the stories everyone are telling are wonderful! 
I have stopped her several times when I think she had come to close for comfort with the squirrels...they are fat, bird feeder fed squirrels that the neighborhood has made very bold and tame. But they know the dogs are in the yard, we've always had dogs, but no one ever got one of them, possibly they were lulled into a false security because of that. 
However, we are ever alert around here, and will be investigating .... poison and other sick animals noted in the neighborhood...thanks for all the ideas and stories. This is a great place to go with questions...thank you all!


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## PhaedraAllen (Feb 22, 2011)

Wow...that video is truly disturbing. I couldnt keep the stink eye look off my face the whole time. Thank god it wasnt killed in a more vicious and messy way. Cute kid though.


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