Bear: 1 Squirrel: 0

check him over carefully...Buckwheat caught/killed a big buck squirrel not long back and it bit her foot, pretty good!

Oh, I did but did not find any wounds (thankfully).

He ate a part of a squirrel back in December that was already road kill and ended up with tapeworms, so I wondered if he could get them from a freshly killed squirrel.  When I took him to the vet for the worms, vet said they get tapes from eating road kill or from fleas (and Bear didn't have any fleas).  So the vet said "don't let him eat road kill", to which I responded that it wasn't as if I let him on purpose.  It was early morning when we were walking and it was dark.  He found it before I saw it and once it was in his mouth, I was not touching a darn thing.

Before Heidi understood "Not for You" (My term for "Leave It";) I had to take many a dead frog out of her little mouth while on walks.  She had quite the nose for the squished little buggers.  And, one time...she found a dead squished squirrel in the grass.  I had no choice but to take it out of her mouth.   EWWWW!  I was so grossed out, but what could I do.  She was on leash, and wasn't going to give it up on her own.  When we got home, I scrubbed my hands for 10 minutes it seemed.  Luckily she didn't get sick.  But, I certainly worried about it (for me and her).

Thank goodness, she understands "Drop It" and "Not for you" and complies with the commands now.  

Pofi has killed 3 I know of.....one swallowed despite DH begging him to "drop it".  He left the other two when I asked, amazingly enough.  He's somehow never had any detectable wounds, nor issues from gulping that one down including a clean bill of health when a recent fecal sample was tested!

I know you didn't encourage it and you're not "proud", but it's not every dog that's fast enough or cunning enough to catch one......he is just acting on his dog nature!

 A fresh kill ought to be fine.  Look at it this way: it's a nice RAW addition to th ediet!

How do dogs kill these little critters so fast.  Yesterday, Drizzle did a bee-line to the back of the yard and got a squirrel, did a shake, and then obeyed me to drop it.  The squirrel had to be in her mouth for only a few seconds.  I examined the squirrel and there was not a mark on it. 

Yesterday Brownie almost killed a squirrel. Well, he might have actually killed it but I don't know.

I was sitting in the driveway grilling fajitas and drinking a Pepsi while he laid steadfast on the grass eyeing a squirrel that was just over the fence on a tree. It was behind the part of the fence that Cuddles jumped on and broke earlier this year. I got mad at Cuddles because she jumped on it again, after I had fixed it so now he knows he better not jump on that part of the fence, so he was waiting patiently for it to come over the fence.

Eventually, that squirrel went on top of the house and he ran around in circles around the bush up here. Then he started sniffing around the yard and heard a noise in another area - near our mean neighbor's house. (who were all out in their backyard by the way). I was watching because I was afraid it might be the neighbor's annoying Lhasa Apso that is always coming into MY yard. Then, I saw the squirrel on top of the fence and was worried that he would jump against that part of the fence and break it, so I called him. But he was going around the enormous pine tree when the squirrel fell off the fence right next to him!!! I couldn't see what was happening because this was happening on the wrong side of the pine tree from where I was. Since I didn't see the squirrel come though, I started calling him again. Where was he?

Well, he was biting the squirrel! When I called him he dropped it, and it ran toward the house with him close behind trying to bite it again. I was yelling at him, and the squirrel was running. It was a crazy show!

Then to top it off, about 5 minutes later, the neighbor's dog  came into our yard through the gate that I left open.

AHHHHHHH!!!!!

(props for story go to ww.

Bugsy caught a squirrel last week but when he grabbed it, it screeched and he let go immediately! He's such a softy! 

   Jessie frequently finds possums in the yard when she does her last potty for the night. They usually "play possum", which seems to work. She picks them up, then sets them down again without shaking. When I go out later to check on them, they're gone. The last time she found one it didn't play dead and I had to throw cold water on her while sternly yelling "leave it" to get her to back off so it could slip through the fence;once she's in a fight with a critter it's the only way to stop her.

lorib: yeah, I was thinking he'd enjoy the raw meat!  I do feed him a variety of foods that includes raw, but the butcher usually handles the killing part.

DPU: I, too, was amazed that Bear was fast enough.  It is funny to watch him when he spots one and he goes into stalking mode: ears flat, head lowered, he stops panting, walks very quietly (doesn't want to jingle his tags).  He will even do that on leash if we are walking and he sees a squirrel or rabbit.  Like he can disguise himself - all 72 lbs of him and about 22" at the shoulder. 

sharismom

Like he can disguise himself - all 72 lbs of him and about 22" at the shoulder. 

LOL Bugsy does that too - at nearly 29" and 105lbs - silly silly boys.  You can see the squirrels looking at him like oh yea we can't see ya big guy! 

 It's nothing to do with me, but my boys have really good Leave It's.  I'm not sure WHO killed the squirrel I found dead in the yard recently (neighbor cat hangs out in my yard killing moles - Yay!), but they both just stood nearby and stared at it when I discovered it lying on the ground between them and I gave them the command.  It almost appeared like they might have been playing with it or just discovered it lying there.  I'm also able to call them off them on our walks (we have billions of squirrels here!) which is really good because with the 2 of them, I'd be flat on my face during most of the walk.