Friday, March 14, 2008

Life and the suburban farmdog

My suburban boy decided to chase some "big game" while I was off at work tonight.

Chandler apparently spotted a large perched redtailed hawk at the edge of the woods before my father did, and silently launched himself at it in full charge.
The hawk quickly decided to leave in a low swoop across the yard, and Chan changed direction to chase it.
Then of course, the fun ended as he hit the end of the 28 foot flexi lead. (Poor boy.)

This has me a bit curious. He hasn't been taught or encouraged to chase perched birds, but other members of his breed reportedly do keep birds of prey from swooping down on the chickens and guinea hens. I'm wondering if this an innate English Shepherd behavior of some type, either driven by prey drive, or farmdog sense of "things that should not be here."

Given the difficulty of figuring out what a dog is thinking, I'll probably never know.

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