Maggie Defends the Homestead

This morning I come out to the living room around 8 AM and Maggie is staring a squirrel down.  She's on one side of the doggy door, and the squirrel is on the other.  With a burst of energy she rarely displays, Maggie is zipping out the dog door and after the trespassing squirrel.  She chased it around the yard, in the bushes, under the woodpile (following it the entire time), and even managed a few brief moments to chase off squirrel no. 2, who was trying to distract her from squirrel no. 1, before going back to chasing and cornering the original squirrel.  Finally the poor thing ran between the fence and the tool shed, where Maggie tried various positions to get it.  Since the squirrel was chirping the entire time it was being chased, and then ceased to make any noise at all once Maggie had it cornered, I honestly thought it was dead.  I draw the line at having to deal with dead mammals and rodents, so I got Kevin and made him deal with it.  Apparently, the squirrel was not dead, just had its face tucked in the corner and trying to keep away from the growling dog.  We locked Maggie in the house, where she continued to patrol in front of the sliding glass door and growl, scratching and pawing, whining to be let out to continue her hunt.

And then along came squirrel no. 2, peering over the fence, trying to gauge the situation and make sure it was all clear for squirrel no. 1 to escape.  That set Maggie off on another round of growling and patrolling.  Since she wouldn't allow herself to be distracted, I took her off to the dog park, hoping she'd run around and find something else to focus on.  No dice.  She kept pawing at the gate, wanting to leave the park and, presumably, go after the squirrel again.  We stayed for about 30 min., and by the time we came home around 9:30 AM, squirrel no. 1 was out of the corner and long gone with squirrel no. 2.  

It was pretty remarkable.  I often think of Maggie as kind of a lazy dog, but she was going strong this morning, making sure that her yard was left alone.  Here's hoping this mornings antics will convince the squirrels to stay out of the yard and stop digging up the lawn and the garden.  They're cute, but they are kind of pesty, too.

DISCLAIMER: No squirrels were harmed in the writing of this blog post or in the events resulting in the creation of this post.

 (Re-enactment shot) Maggie trying to get to the squirrel.

 The hiding squirrel (aka Squirrel no. 1)

 Maggie continues her patrol from inside the house.

 Distractor squirrel emerges (aka Squirrel no. 2) and is spied by the Wonder Pup

 Distractor squirrel checking out the situation, giving the all clear.

Back from the dog park, and the squirrel has left. Maggie continues her patrol.