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When your dog is being mocked by critters in your yard

Tricia

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There have been a bunch of ground squirrels and bunnies in the yard for Gypsy to chase. Last summer she caught a couple squirrels and a bunny but has yet to catch one this spring.
There is a squirrel hole in the corner of our yard that appears to be the squirrel freeway, which keeps Gypsy pretty busy.
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Lately the squirrels have been coming out of the hole and chirping at Gypsy, almost mocking her, "I bet you can't get me!" @Wendy has been here the past few weeks to witness this mocking.

While I was doing yard work this morning I heard the chirping of a squirrel and looked up to see it come out of the hole, chirp until it got Gypsy's attention then rush back into the hole while Gypsy was running up the hill.
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This is Gypsy hiding behind a rock to lull the squirrel into her lair.
I'm pretty confident that its only a matter of time before Gypsy wins this battle of the back yard critters.
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I'm not sure why I'm sharing this other than to share some of what has been entertaining us when we're not skiing or hiking.
 

dbostedo

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I'm not sure why I'm sharing this...

I believe this is your answer:

 

David Chaus

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Sadie is often teased by squirrels, and with the trees we have they don’t need to leave the safety of their elevated squirrel highway.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I wish I got a picture of the look on her face the day she caught a bunny.
She came out from behind the shed with it in her mouth wtih a look that said,"I caught it. Now what do I do with it?"
This is another shot of her stalking the back yard for critters.
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Wendy

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Gypsy’s job is to guard the yard against those nasty, evil ground squirrels. ;)
I told Tricia that Gypsy needs those squirrels because all cattle dogs need jobs to do!
My 2 dogs are constantly mocked by tree-dwelling squirrels in our yard. Every morning when I let them out, there’s a mad chase from the maple trees in front to the split-rail fence along the side and back of our house where the squirrels run along the top.
 

Bad Bob

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Gray squirrels a plenty around here. Max (our little 10 lb. Maltese) is the brunt of a lot of squirrel humor. Max is inside the chain link fence and they will sit outside and chirp at him. God help the dog if he were to catch one; they would kick his butt.
 

oldschoolskier

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We are waiting to see if our Jack Russel is going to learn to climb trees. You can see she is trying to figure it out. As to catching them, well, one rat, shortened tails of 2 squirrels and killed two baby bunnies (bad dog) because they looked like slow squirrels. As to the squirrels they hear the dog coming down the stairs in the house and they are already high tailing for safety, as the Jack covers ground extremely fast.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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We are waiting to see if our Jack Russel is going to learn to climb trees. You can see she is trying to figure it out. As to catching them, well, one rat, shortened tails of 2 squirrels and killed two baby bunnies (bad dog) because they looked like slow squirrels. As to the squirrels they hear the dog coming down the stairs in the house and they are already high tailing for safety, as the Jack covers ground extremely fast.
These squirrels are ligetematly mocking Gypsy.
They literally come out and make their noise, come out a little further and make noise again, as if they're taunting her to try to catch them.
She is smart enough, I'm sure she'll win in the end ;)
 

Bill Talbot

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We are waiting to see if our Jack Russel is going to learn to climb trees. You can see she is trying to figure it out. As to catching them, well, one rat, shortened tails of 2 squirrels and killed two baby bunnies (bad dog) because they looked like slow squirrels. As to the squirrels they hear the dog coming down the stairs in the house and they are already high tailing for safety, as the Jack covers ground extremely fast.

We had a Jack in the area that discovered a chicken wired enclosure full of hens. I watched it climb up and over the 6+ foot fence, grab a chicken, kill it and climb back over with it in it's mouth! Of course after that it was back again for more... until the dog's owner was alerted to the goings on. They are very intelligent dogs!
 

Ogg

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I have a couple of squirrels that will hang out on the back porch taunting my cats through the glass door. They bolt if they hear the door being unlocked. I had a dog(sheltie mix?) that once chased a squirrel straight up a tree and grabbed it about 10' up. She actually dropped it on my wife's command and it ran off. We didn't see many squirrels in the yard for about a year after that. We of course gave her lots of praise for both getting the squirrel and dropping it when we said so.
 

SBrown

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Olli got so conditioned to being unable to catch the squirrels in the backyard that he just gave up and stared at them. I think with a sigh or two. But in other places, he would go nuts about squirrels; I assume he figured he had a chance elsewhere. It was kind of an interesting view into dog psyche, but a little depressing. :roflmao:
 

Seldomski

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On the up side - at least you don't have dive-bombing crows.

We've had some mockingbirds dive bomb our dogs.

The puppy is similar to our prior dog - he goes at maximum speed to where the squirrel was without adjusting course. He's bred to flush birds so generally goes in the most clumsy way possible.

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