Oh Deer

[Wacenturion]

Dougal's favorite past time and favorite spot to watch all the neighborhood activities.  Being just shy of 9 months he is becoming a very nice young adult.  Although he barks at neighbors walking their dogs, he just does a soft whine when he watches his deer buddies.  A Blacktailed doe and her two fawns enjoy the Seckel pears every day in the front yard.  In turn Dougal enjoys them.   He also enjoys the many Whitetails on my property in eastern Washington when we go over for ranch time.  There is also a rabbit or two that also enjoy those pears and when I go out the front with him on a lease, and he sees one of them.....game on.  If he wasn't on a lease, he would be gone rabbit hunting.  

[montdoug]

We live out a ways  and have a lot of whitetail's in our neighborhood. My buddy Gus who is 12 years old with failing hearing and a few older dog traits has a nose as keen as it ever was. Being protective of his turf I can always tell when after dark falls the deer wander through looking for nice green shoots. One minute we are all quietly watching TV or reading a book when Gus goes on a ballistic barking growling routine that scares everyone about 2 feet off the couch 😱. The deer don't seem to care, what's another dog more or less barking at them from inside a house.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

[pkcrossley]

i'm so impressed by dougal. only 9 months old and so mature. my redmon at any age would indignantly follow the deer from inside the house as they walked around it. he was under every window alerting at the top of his voice and demanding that i look out and see what was going on. the deer adjusted very well, calmly enjoying what treats they found in the yard while a capture wolf howled away a few yards from them. 

[Hillscreek]

Ha Ha pk - same with Angus. The deer learned to ignore him - even when we were outside. They knew he was  leashed. They would raise their heads a second and look at him. They'd flick an ear or tail and go back to eating fallen apples or whatever else had attracted them to the yard. Finally he learned not to bother barking but still bounced about eagerly making little throaty noises going from window to window inside, and getting in to what I called "readiness" mode outside with body ready to chase even though he knew he couldn't.

[Toto-lee Cairn]

When you watch these behaviors, can't you just see a pack of them, in pursuit, followed by a large, burly Scotsman?

We live in a neighborhood almost overrun with deer.  When my best friend and her husband moved-in across the street, she kept commenting, 'how cute!,' in reference to the deer.  I told her that would last until they ate the first plant she was particularly fond of -- they jumped her fence, and annihilated one of her hydrangeas. Haven't heard 'cute' since.

Toto is just starting to notice them -- not quite big enough to get up to the height of the lower windows in the house, and he watches the deer intently.  If he's on the porch and deck, he raises the alarm, but by then, my husband's Weimaraner is already telling the deer to get out of his yard. Like, now.  If Rupert gives chase, it is an all-day-catch-me-if-you-can escapade, with us following around the neighborhood in a car and on-foot.  At least he is big enough to spot -- I dread if Toto ever gives chase.

The squirrels have been on-vacation somewhere, and I can just imagine the ruckus when they show up in the yard this fall and winter.  They have the nerve -- the very nerve! -- to come up to the deck to try to get into the birdseed.  I am sure Toto will find them as interesting, if not more so, than the deer.

My greatest concern is his unearthing a snake, or a nest of snakes, especially come Spring.  He wants to explore, of course, under all the shrubs, and when he scratches at the dirt, mulch, or straw, I watch intently and then try to distract him.  Like, right.