Photo: The scent of frustration
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I invite wildlife into my yard with seed and suet, water and plants that attract all kinds of creatures–from your everyday chipmunks and your garden-variety birds to the more unique mammals like groundhogs and flying squirrels.
In an attempt to prevent the untimely demise of these guests, I scare them away before I let the dogs out–multiple times a day.
The birds are the first to react, fluttering upwards in a flurry of feathers. The mourning doves are always last; I have to make a special effort to get them moving. The squirrels scramble up the tree trunks, hopping from limb to limb and crossing into my neighbor’s yard along a well-memorized branch path.
Chipmunks scurry under the stones in our wall, or zoom along the fence superhighway.
Rabbits will zig zag their way under the nearest fence. And our friend Mr. Ground Hog waddles his way underneath our shed.
Once the yard is clear, I take the dogs out. For the most part, the smells of the recent visitors offer nothing more than passing olfactory distractions.
Unless Mr. Hog had paid a visit. Then dog noses are mushed to the ground, and I can track every last step of that creature by watching my pups follow his trail to the shed.
In the photo above, Tucker can smell him. He know’s he’s there. But he. Just. Can’t. Reach. Him.
Oh! The frustration! Poor Tucker.
Do your pets have favorite scents that they love to chase down?
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Today we’re participating in the Wordless Wednesday blog hop. Take a look at at some of the great photos in the blogs below.
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Better luck next time. Hailey loves to make the ravens fly away and to hunt anything that moves. Phod loves to tree the wild turkeys.
He’ll keep trying–and so will the other dogs. But I’m hoping they’ll never get ‘im.
Just be patient, my furiend! They’ll little creatures will be back! Happy WW!
Nearly every day!
We have too many rabbits for Jack to bother chasing them anymore. But we have an occasional evening visitor, don’t know if it’s a raccoon or a possum, but when he smells him, he goes nuts.
That’s how my dogs are with birds. Too many. And they’ll chase squirrels if they get close enough. But bunnies and ground hogs–they must be chased!
Tucker, never give up the chase! One time a squirrel landed right on me and I didnt know what to do, you have to be prepared! Happy WW!
Good advice. Tucker is always prepared to give chase.
LOL. That would drive Torrey nuts!
It drives Tucker nuts too!
BOL what was there?
Mr. Groundhog paid a visit.
Tucker I feel with you. It’s hard to smell them when we can’t catch them… maybe tomorrow the hunting-luck is with you?
That’s the thing about dogs: they always hope.
My guys love tracking the fox especially, but bunnies, deer, and the occasional cat are pretty good, too!
Bunnies are a favorite here. They’d chase deer, too, but luckily we have a fenced in yard.
hahaha! Yep! You can always always always tell when they have found one of their favorite smells!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Exactly. It’s fun to watch them, too!
What a great way to make the outdoors more of an adventure.
It’s always an adventure with Tucker around.
So happy we got rid of all the bunny poops and the bunnies too 🙂 Sugar’s furry friend Fred keeps on leaving goodies on our patio. Sugar tried to chase him but he is quick. Happy Wednesday. Golden Woofs
We’re not thrilled with the bunny poos either. Actually, I’m not thrilled. The dogs like ’em. 😉
Squirrels and cats! Most things that move really.
True. If it moves and has a scent, my dogs are on it.
Poor Tucker. We totally understand your frustration. We have lots of critters too, including the raccoon who visits nightly and the dastardly skunks who stink up our yard on almost a nightly basis. XO, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
Skunks. Don’t get me started. My dogs had an encounter with one a few years ago. Holy crow!
That is quite frustrating. The critters in your yard are lucky. Mom doesn’t have time to do a yard check, so she opens the door and out we go. Sometimes the critters are gone, sometimes their luck runs out. I guess it is part of critter life. He sure has some nice sniffing form there I must say!
Lots of good sniffing in our yard. Particularly when a special critter sneaks in, like the groundhog or a fox.
Oh poor Tucker! My dogs can relate. The squirrels are too darn fast for them to even get close! Unfortunately, not so with the birds. You are so good to clear the area before letting them out, multiple times a day! That’s a good idea.
Love & Biscuits,
Cathy, Isis & Phoebe http://www.dogsluvusandweluvthem.blogspot.com
My dogs have caught birds, squirrels and chipmunks. They almost caught Mr. Groundhog. And they tried to catch a skunk, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
We bet you wish you were a little smaller, huh, Tucker?
Maybe cat sized? Then he could get under there.
Bentley would never come back inside if he had that many creatures coming into his backyard. Pierre would build a fort. We get squirrels, turtles, lizards, even snakes. Rarely anything cool like rabbits!
The dogs love to be outside…there are always interesting creatures around to sniff, chase or bark about.
What a tease, Tucker!
You said it!
It looks like that ground hog really has Tucker’s attention! I hope that the ground hog doesn’t try coming back on Tucker’s side of the fence. Shooing all of those animals away before letting the dogs out is a great idea. 🙂
Silly groundhog keeps coming back. I guess he’s not very bright.
Well that stinks, the fun is chasing them out of my yard! Love Dolly
Chasing is lots of fun, isn’t it? I’m sure Tucker will have an opportunity to chase something (or someone) else soon.
We’ve got a rabbit and two cats that seem to enjoy scenting up our backyard to make Harley crazy when he comes outside. It’s great entertainment for me though…
I think they do it on purpose, don’t you?
Don’t worry, Tucker. They’ll come back … we promise! 🙂
You are right. They always do.
So close, so very, very close. Does Tucker come back easily while he’s onto something like a groundhog like that? Once Laika is off and especially if she’s that close she gets selective hearing.
There is a bit of selective hearing. I try to train my dogs to the Come! command with high-value treats (steak, cheese, etc) and they know when I use that command, something really special is coming, and they have learned to listen.
So close, yet so far away =(
The young’uns like to chase lizards and birds. And rabbits-we have lots of rabbits on our property, and I think coyotes or other dogs have come through too (we have one big fence which isn’t properly fenced to keep critters in/out, and then a chain link fence right around the house itself). Bella and Terra busily sniff the area daily, and Kronos is more concerned with running around and checking for rabbits.
Those noses always knows when something or someone has visited.
A groundhog! Tucker, we don’t blame you for wanting to follow him! He is probably super cute!
He’s particularly cute when he waddles/runs away. He’s faster than you’d think.
Poor Tucker! Just be patient and maybe one day….! We like to chase the squirrels in our yard. We haven’t ever caught one, but we will keep trying!