Most dogs will try to chase a squirrel 🐿…

[Flintsack]

Today Penny caught her first one. She amazes me each and every day. It was a big huge gigantic male fox squirrel. She doesn’t mess around.

I’m trailing about 75 yards behind her which is normal these days because we have huge snow. Plus she just bolts, she goes hunting, and I am for the most part OK with that.

All of a sudden I can see her tail start going, she’s got one treed. So I start huffing and puffing and running. And I’m trying to watch up in the tops of the trees to see if I can locate the squirrel while I run down the narrow path… then I hear screaming
Hard to describe. But you knew someone was having a really bad day. So I ran faster. I come around the corner and Pennys jumping forward and back trying to grab the squirrel that she’s got on the ground, clearly she’s already grabbed it couple of times …

Then she gets it right by the back, kind of up towards the head which is where she carries them, and starts trotting for the office. Which is a good 250 yards away across the creek.

The squirrel is still totally alive at this point. I haven’t shot at it. Penny is gentle as can be once she has them subdued. I keep trying to catch up with her, and get her to stop, and she won’t listen. She turns around and watches me for a while and I’m laughing as I write this, and then she trots on.

I could’ve shocked her to stop her. I didn’t think it was right. Plus I was laughing my head off. Smiling like crazy as I write this.

I know that when she gets back and sets it down it’s going to run away. So I’m running trying to keep up. I can’t even possibly come close. So as I’m crossing the creek 70 yards away, she sets the squirrel down, and it runs up the walnut tree. It was pretty tired at that point. It had kind of a rough day. I quickly put an end to that.
WOW!

Mike

 

[Ranchibi]

Great write up! Had me smiling reading the whole story play out before my eyes! Nice pics, and, you do understand Penny very well, you two make a great team.

 

[qball]

What a great story!!!

 

[UCChris]

She's such an amazing dog!

 

[AmosBurton]

Good dog!
My dog Amos got a possum not long ago. He also didn't kill it and when he put it down it just ran off. The look of surprise on his face was hilarious.
I suspect neither Penny or my dog Amos will make the same mistake again and will throw in at least one death shake to make sure the next time they grab something.

 

[Mrshosted]

What a great story!

 

[Flintsack]

Good dog!
My dog Amos got a possum not long ago. He also didn't kill it and when he put it down it just ran off. The look of surprise on his face was hilarious.
I suspect neither Penny or my dog Amos will make the same mistake again and will throw in at least one death shake to make sure the next time they grab something.

I honestly don’t think Penny would shake it. Yet when she went after the woodchuck, she shook that thing like crazy.

Mike

 

[Struckat]

Penny, living the life.
Awesome! Thank you for sharing

 

[crowski]

Great companion, your lucky. Crow

 

[crosman2016]

Ha ha ha!!! That's funny OP! Good dog.

 

[Flintsack]

Penny, living the life.
Awesome! Thank you for sharing

We both so love the chase.

 

[JimD]

Thanks for the story. Nice dog.

My little Cola has not caught a squirrel yet but did get a rabbit. She ate the ears off before showing me her kill. I used to have a couple dogs from the pound that caught and killed 4 squirrels. I am pretty sure that the bigger older dog took care of himself for awhile before the pound caught him. I think he taught the smaller and younger dog to hunt squirrels and they tag teamed them. The bigger one probably distracted them and the younger one grabbed them. That was before I started shooting them with my PCPs. My current dog goes wild when she sees a squirrel in the back yard. She wants me to pull out a PCP and shoot it. If it falls from the tree she runs there faster than I can and grabs it. If she thinks it is alive, she shakes it. She set one down and it wiggled so she shook it again. The only downside is brain shot ones wiggle and she will shake those too. Most of the squirrels I clean have holes in their abdomen from her canine teeth. But they don't get away.

 

[Johndunbar]

Great dog right there!!

 

[Geezerhood]

The bird feeder raiding squirrels in Texas years ago would sit on the feeder pole, head down and tease our dog relentlessly. If she got close enough to menace them, they would charge down the pole and chase her back into the house! She needed some mentoring from Penny!

 

[sasquatch]

Perfect

 

[JimD]

I love to see a squirrel challenge my little (40 lb) Cola. Wouldn't last long. I hit one in the throat with my 177 and it wasn't dead yet when she got to it. Her first grab was a bit forward and I think she crunched a front shoulder but the squirrel was biting at her. She just dropped it and immediately grabbed it in the middle. It could not reach her in that position and she shook until it wasn't wiggling any more. She hunts for and kills whatever she can catch. I have successfully kept her from cats so far. I think she would kill them but I might have some vet bills to pay. Mice, lizards and the occasional bunny have not had much chance. A squirrel may get stupid enough not to run away some day but it will be it's last day.

 

[ezmuzic]

My GSD sits all day watching the squirrels in our yard, I'm more worried she will take off into the conservation area and get bitten by a snake, she has already been bitten by a pygmy rattle snake and I don't fancy the expense of the vets bills again!

 

[Flintsack]

I love to see a squirrel challenge my little (40 lb) Cola. Wouldn't last long. I hit one in the throat with my 177 and it wasn't dead yet when she got to it. Her first grab was a bit forward and I think she crunched a front shoulder but the squirrel was biting at her. She just dropped it and immediately grabbed it in the middle. It could not reach her in that position and she shook until it wasn't wiggling any more. She hunts for and kills whatever she can catch. I have successfully kept her from cats so far. I think she would kill them but I might have some vet bills to pay. Mice, lizards and the occasional bunny have not had much chance. A squirrel may get stupid enough not to run away some day but it will be it's last day.

I find it hilarious that she is so gentle with the squirrels. Very rarely do they try to bite her. But she went after the woodchuck hard when she squared off with that dude.

Mike

 

[Flintsack]

My GSD sits all day watching the squirrels in our yard, I'm more worried she will take off into the conservation area and get bitten by a snake, she has already been bitten by a pygmy rattle snake and I don't fancy the expense of the vets bills again!

So if your dog gets bitten by a snake. The best possible outcome is huge vet bills, and she survives. You know the other possible outcome. Not good. Either case bad.

I will admit I am afraid of snakes. Especially the poisonous types. I did save a 6 foot rat snake once. My enemies enemies are my friend.

Mike

 

[JimD]

I get startled when I see a snake unexpectedly but I used to go looking for them when I was a kid. I have mice in my yard and sometimes in my crawl space so I like having some non poisonous snakes around to help knock down the numbers. Cola found one on the walk way in the back and I had to convince her to leave it alone. I think she would have killed it otherwise. She's killed several mice. I watched her get one. She chomped it once and it was over. Didn't try to eat it or anything. Just killed it.