Living in the country is enjoyable most of the time. We love the peace and quiet and the ability to have a ton of outdoor activities for the boys. Of course living in the country means dealing with wildlife too. We enjoy the wildlife, the family of deer that comet through our yard every evening is one of our favorite things to watch. Recently we had an opossum problem though.
It all started about three weeks ago at about 2:30 am. Our lab was outside barking insistently. He has different barks and I could tell with his tone that something was in the yard. I nudged hubby and said “something is outside.” Hubby didn’t budge. So, I grabbed a flashlight and headed out. There was no way the dog was going to stop unless someone came out. Under hubby’s truck was a big opossum. The dog was running around the truck trying to get to it.
I held the dog back and tried to scare the opossum off. Opossum’s carry many diseases so I didn’t want the dog to get bit. The darn thing wouldn’t budge (kind of like hubby!). So I brought the dog inside for the night and the opossum was gone in the morning.
Well over the last couple of weeks we have been awakened to our dogs barking and chasing something off. Don’t get me wrong, we are glad to have outdoor dogs to chase the wildlife off. They are protecting our chickens and cat from being harmed. However, the nighttime waking is rough.
Mr. B was playing outside on Friday afternoon near our swing set. The dogs presented him with a nice surprise. A dead opossum! The dogs finally won their opossum battle and were showing off their trophy. Hubby discarded the opossum and hopefully the dogs won’t contract some weird disease.
Our lab is the sweetest dog and you would never guess that he is the hunter. However he successfully hunts mice, moles, voles, lizards and now opossums. Our border collie will chase things but never does them harm.
Do your dogs “hunt”? How about middle of the night wakings?
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Last year my 9 pound Yorkie was barking in the back yard. He had killed a gopher.
Hi Mom! I remember you telling me that! I am sure the gopher was almost as big as Ruffus!