Zorro's got the bug!

[clairep4]

Zorro has got the squirrel bug - he's gone right through the winter watching big sis Bella on the hunt without seeming to have the foggiest idea what she was on about and only having eyes for his treasured ball, but in the last week he has gone from discovering squirrelly scent trails, which make his tail wag so fast and furiously that he can't walk straight, to coming within, literally, an inch of catching a squirrel last night. Boy can he move, he's like a little bullet!

And joy of joys, this new passion of his is coinciding with his teenage wanderlust kicking in  . So we are doing some serious whistle recall training with him and will now have to teach him the "s" word so that he pays us some attention (this is the only thing that worked with Bella, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em - she's never caught a squirrel but she is 100% obsessed with them).

Hopefully he will take his lead from Bella and we will have two quivering cockers stood next to each other eyeing up the squirrel population of Greenwich park.

[Annette]

I guess it had to happen really.

Now you are going to always look like a complete loon when out in squirrel country with the Muppeteers!

Anyone else live near Claire to video the antics and post on here?

[*Jay*]

Well, that should make walks interesting  I was glad that mine didn't have any obsessions (apart from Vegas with his tennis balls and plastic bottles) but then Jersey discovered the delights of birds 

[Rhona W]

I think that was just inevitable.  At least it will be easier to keep an eye on them both at the same time. Unless they chase different squirrels of course. 

My pair love chasing squirrels and Reuben even managed to catch one last year.  They still like chasing big birds, but have decided the small ones aren't worth bothering with. 

[ali]

thus far the squiggles always manage to stay one step ahead of barkley and he spends a lot of time standing very crossly at the foots of trees looking up at the pesky critters as they sit in the branches looking smugly down at him. 

so his favourite is rabbits as, having now managed to catch two of them, he reckons he stands more of a chance. 

i've been known lately to walk through the woods calling out 'run away, bunnies!' at frequent intervals just to give them a bit of warning as once he's on the scent i don't stand much of a chance of distracting him away.

[scooby's mum]

Zorro, you are sooooo taking after your big sis 

My two are obsessed with squirrels too - we have a couple living in the vicinity of our garden and they drive me mad looking for them and barking    Every morning when we let them out they are literally falling over one another to get to the back of the garden first to see who can spot a squirrel 

Also, Misty is obsessed with birds too 

[clairep4]

Also, Misty is obsessed with birds too 

Hmmm, yes, birds...

Ducks are Bella's second fave and there are plenty on the local river at the moment. The other morning she disappeared for about 20mins - the edge of the river has lots of cow parsley etc so you can't see the dogs much once they're down there but it's fairly shallow at the moment.  All I could hear was

"splish-sploosh, splish-SPLOOSH, SPLISH-SPLOOSH [glimpse of Bella through the cow parsley legging it past in the middle of the river], splish-sploosh, quaaaack-quack-quack!!!, splish-sploosh, splish-SPLOOSH, SPLISH-SPLOOSH [glimpse of Bella legging it back the other way], QUAAAAAACK-quack-quack!!" 

Eventually she came out and I've never seen a soggier cocker in all my life but she was sooooo happy.

This morning they had a double whammy, ducks AND a squirrel - two very excited doggies.... 

[sarahp]

Oh bless him 

Dill spent the first 12 months he lived with us completely bemused with why Daisy would rush off into the trees for no apparent reason    Then he saw it for himself - one lone free sqiggle sitting in the middle of the fairway and he chased and realised what was leaving all the scent trails - he hasn't been the same since bless him   

He is now on a par with Daisy for the obsession title - and when they both chase the same one and it disappears up a tree they stand at the bottom and bark at each other as if to say 'well its your fault it went up the bl**dy tree!!!' 

[clairep4]

There are a pair of scruffy mutts in Greenwich park who are 100% obsessed with squirrels. I once saw them from a distance and they jointly chased one up a young sapling - they were so excited that one of them started to just spin and spin on the spot. The other one was barking at him and watching his face, so you've got one dog spinning round and round and the other is doing this weird side to side thing with his head and shoulders as he tries to keep track of his buddie's face - kinda like someone watching a REALLY fast tennis match - it had me in stitches 

[tonio]

An hour ago Freddie was very intent on sniffing around the green where he goes every day .`He was quartering the ground intently and I guess he would make a good sniffer dog.I didn't cotton-on to what he was doing until he followed a scent which went up a tree.Then he tried to climb it.
He spent a good five minutes on his hind legs clutching the tree with his forelegs and looking up into the branches.The tree rat was long gone but Freddie certainly knows what the "s" word means and is at his most alert when he hears it.

Tonio

[waisis]

OMG, squirrels are my nemesis!!! Barking, jumping all over trees, selective deafness, glazed-over possessed look, tail being wagged off, and other people having a good laugh at Bailey are what I associate with those critters