Her. By Charlie

She says: Want to go for a walk?

I think: IF I go out with you, we can smell squirrels, eat deer poop, and I can ignore you unless you offer tiny dog treats and call me repeatedly.

I'd be an idiot to turn all that down.

She heads out the door and towards the hill. I head the other way and sit down in the driveway. Obviously, she is going the wrong way. 
So I sit. And sit.

And then She calls me and I turn my head to stare up the drive. I will ignore her first few calls and then think a bit about it. 

My collar goes buzzzzzz... buzzzz. Oh crap. She really does want to go the wrong way. Tsk, tsk. 

I guess. 

So I stand up and trot to her with an upward glance. She calls me a Good Dog and reaches wayyy down to run her mittened hand over my head.

Off we go.

Maybe I'll find some really good smells and maybe I can chase a deer. I know She thinks I am a little tiny dog, but I don't see myself that way. I'm a hound. I am a Hunter with a capitol H. I seek voles and mice along with the big game. 

I have Her to protect me from the scary things in the forest.

Like Coyote smell and Bobcat smell.

We got down into the creek and I found a curiosity. A dead raccoon. It looked like it was sound asleep in the creek. I smelled it and just stood and stared at it. 

She told me to "Leave it be" and we went on.  Contrary to popular belief, I don't roll in dead things. I like to find something nasty, sticky, black, and that has an intoxicating odor to roll in. Dead animals are not interesting at all.

Smart pellets like deer poo are delicious. When I was a pup an old hound dog named Dixie taught me how to find them and eat them. She was an excellent mentor. She said they would make me smarter. Dixie said that Morris told her that.

Val however, is okay, but just doesn't have much of a nose to speak of. She is pretty nice to cuddle with and She is in charge of feeding me, but she has no good sense of smell. I guess I'll just have to forgive her for that.

She also has no fear. When I smell coyote tracks and shiver and quiver, She just looks around and shrugs. She also has a pistol thing. It makes Huge Loud Scary Booms. Since I am so frightened of guns, she usually leaves it in the holster thing.

I like leading. The only time I don't is when I hear gunshots or perhaps smell something quite dangerous near by. 

I headed down the creek. She stopped to admire a small pool of trout. 

Then there was something inside a log that captured her attention. 

"Look at this Charlie! Ice!" 

I was busy smelling for wild things. 

Finally She sat on a log and just didn't do anything. I think She was just listening. Maybe She was trying to smell.

Maybe She was thinking. I do that a lot. I think.

Mostly I think about Food.

Finally She stood up and called me.

I was on the other side of the little creek so I sat down and pretended my ears were plugged up. I was in a good place and She could just sit down again and Think.

She buzzed my collar and I came on the run.

I'm pretty good that way. If She buzzes me or rings the collar I do come quickly.

Otherwise?

I ignore her.

She and I walked along another deer trail and headed back towards the house. We went slow. Well, She went slow like She was looking for something.

Maybe if She had a better nose She would know what She was looking for.

But She seems to drift here and there through the forest just soaking things up. And often She sticks that camera in her face.

She is...

a bit Odd.

I have to admit, She isn't all that bad for being a two-legged creature. But She is what I've got so I guess I will make do.

At least She makes me a nice place on the couch with blankets to rest. For that? I like Her.

The First Snow & Charlie

 

There is always some childlike excitement over the very first snowfall of the season. I can't wait to get out in it and explore.

Rich generally gets pretty grumpy about it.

Last year it was October 16th. The snow came down in beautiful big chunks!

There was still a lot of color left on the trees and in the woods. Here a sumac shows off its brilliant reds.

I gathered my gear and got ready to head out.

Charlie crept closer to the little camera bag and gave me huge soulful eyes.

I reached for his electric collar [he wears a collar I can buzz to call him off from chasing squirrels, chipmunks, and deer. He stands only 7" high and is too easy to lose in the woods. I did that because I did lose him once and it took me a long time to find the little bugger who was tracking goodness knows what!] The Daschund in him makes him a voracious hunter. The Pekingese side of him makes him a lazy couch King.

We headed out and Charlie's reaction was one of pure joy.

He was into instant mouse tracking mode. Or anything he could smell mode.

If you didn't know how tiny he was, you'd think he was a huge dog. He is watching and listening for something to chase.

At the creek he tried chasing a small trout that was flitting about in the water. I don't think he could figure out what was making the splashes. Eventually he went under the log to dig a bit.

I sometimes wonder what goes on inside a dog's head. His/her thoughts must be only in the moment. 

Maybe that is a good thing right now.

Charlie doesn't keep an eye on me like predecessor dogs have. Dixie the big hound dog would run off 20 or so yards and then bound back to be at my side and slobbering into my hand.

Morris would find a perch and watch over me. He'd glance back if he were leading on a trail to make sure I was coming.

Charlie.

He is his own dog.

My job is to keep an eye on the little wanderer. Though he has gotten so much better with recall. The buzzer helps distract him. 

And if I holler out the magic word: Cookie???

He comes on the run.

I let him run around and have his smell-fest in the creek for a while and then started back towards home. It was late and the light was fading. 

Charlie trotted through the open pasture nosing lumps of grass and weeds. I imagine he was looking for mice. Once he finds them, he will simply just sit and stare.

I had to take a photo of how much different the meadow looked from the day before.

By the time we arrived home, it was time to get on with the chores.

I had some elderly mules calling my name.

Fred and Mica, they eat separately from the others and get Senior Feed.

Fred is somewhere around 34 ish, he is the little bay. Mica is in her late 20's and has always been a hard keeper.

The red headed sisters.

Funny how they group themselves.

And the bays. One is a horse, the other is Siera.

For whatever reason, these two hang out together also.

Charlie ran to the door. I let him in where he greeted Rich and promptly laid down in front of the heater.

I shut the door behind me as I heard Rich asking Charlie, "So how was the snow? Did you have fun?"

I smiled.

I don't ever recall Rich conversing with one of our pets over the years. He likes dogs, but he never was a fan of a house dog.

Yes, Charlie was worth it. The funny little dog that wormed his way into Rich's heart.

Training Collar ~ by Charlie

Well the Bossy Lady got upset twice when I went running off into the underbrush and disappeared. The old guy just grumped at me and growled when I was out in the yard and didn't listen to his calls.

So the old grumpy guy said the Bossy Lady should do better training. Bossy Lady said she needed a training collar like the one she used on Dixie to keep Dixie from chasing deer.

Yup. I chased deer one morning too. I lost sight of them, but could smell them! I ran off into the fog and caused Her to have Heart Failure because the grass swallowed me up.

So I got this pretty little funky collar to go with my camo collar. It is loose on me and not snug. I don't mind it at all because I am a tough guy. And She says I look like a Big Dog wearing it.

Imagine my confusion when I trotted off into the woods on one of our morning walks and She called and called. I ignored her. After all, MY daddy is a mini doxxie and dachshunds were bred for hunting. I'm just following my heritage and nose. What can I say?
She called.
Nope I didn't want to go back.
Something beeped and beeped.
She called.
I spun around confused.
She called.
I sat down and thought about the beeps.
Then my neck vibrated.
Okay, that scared the crap out of me and I ran to Her.
She smiled and loved me all up.

"Oh Charlie! You are such a good boy!" I like it when she does that. I get all wiggly and goofy.

She and the old grumpy guy [he isn't really grumpy] are taking me on short walks after breakfast now. The old guy is doing it because he says She nags him to walk, but he wants to walk and get stronger.
I get to go and show off my skills.

Don't get me wrong. I still get to chase squirrels and birds...and run and sniff around. But now I pay attention when I am called and I get the "Charlie, you are such a good boy! A lot which is better than the Bad Boy Charlie!" or the sound of Her having a Heart Failure.

I am a very quick learner.
Old Grumpy Guy says I am stubborn just like Her.
She says I am stubborn just like the Old Grumpy Guy.

I don't care, just as long as we take nice walks.