hunting in the field

The field in our neighborhood has waist-high grass for most of the summer, it's mostly pasture grass but there are a few patches of this or that where rodents like to hang out or build little tunnels to travel along from one patch to another. Winston is well enough for us to go back to using the Flexi-Giant leads which are nice for two reasons 1) they're like carrying hand-weights for me, and 2) when we're in the field, the dogs have 25 feet to use as they roam, trot, sniff and hunt.

The hunting part is new. Winston was raised as a suburban guy; before Josie came along he didn't know that catching things could be part of the fun of chasing things. He and Nala (our first Mastiff) used to chase bunnies out of the yard or squirrels up the tree, and pretty much ignored birds altogether. Since Josie came to live with us, she's teaching him some new things, though he has yet to actually catch anything. Josie on the other hand is pretty good or bad depending on your perspective. I DO NOT like the catching of birds or bunnies in my yard so I've tried my best to discourage it.

Out in the field, I'm gaining a different perspective. I was horrified the first time she caught something (a mouse? a vole?). She pounced, and I didn't think much of it. Then I noticed that she had something in her mouth and I tried marching her faster, thinking she would drop it. Instead she gave me an irritated look as though she was thinking if only I'd stop for a minute, we could all have a snack. Seeing that she wasn't about to drop it, I stopped. She set the little wet thing down on the ground so I hurried away thinking that she'd leave it. No such luck. She picked it back up and gave me dirty looks until I stopped again and waited long enough for her to crunch crunch swallow (EEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW).

The next time she caught a snack, I didn't actually witness the catching. I saw that she had something in her mouth and since she's been known to eat poop (just lovely, eh?), I stopped and told her to drop it. She did and took a step back as though offering me the first bite of her tasty snack and once I got a better look at the poor little wet body, it was not poop afterall. It was also very dead already. I stepped away and told Josie that it was all hers. Now I try not to pay too close of attention until lately.

In the past couple of weeks there has been A LOT of pouncing going on, and even Winston has gotten in on the action. They look just like cats pouncing with their front paws. Surely the mice haven't started coming out to see us as we walk by?

Well, the field just got mowed and now I found out the reason for all of the pouncing. It's grasshoppers!