Copper: Run Squirrel Run

It had only been a few short weeks that Copper was here when he got to chase his first squirrel.  The bird feeders that are in the yard are scattered here and there so the song birds have a choice as to where to feed.   Needless to say the squirrels and chipmunks are quite often scampering around the bases, then they jump up into a nearby tree for a fast get away...especially from a Lab Pit mix!  

Copper is fast...I mean really fast!  Now remember, Copper literally had the run of the twenty acres when he first arrived because there was no fencing of any sort.  He is also the type of dog which must be busy at all times, otherwise boredom sets in.  Uh..oh!! 

One day, he was watching a squirrel intently...by just barely lifting the flap of his dog door so as not to scare the little guy off.  Then suddenly he bolted out so fast, I swear the house shook!  He ran like the dickens up around the back of the shed, sailed over the creek and continued up the hill near the edge of the woods.  Suddenly I saw him stop.  He was shaking his head vigorously.  Then he stood there staring at the ground.  

As I walked across the field and slowly climbed the hill, he looked at the ground, then up at me, then at the ground, then back up at me.  I saw it.  The squirrel was dead, just lying there.  Copper was not mouthing it...not chewing on it.  He just starred at it.  Copper looked at me, then back at the squirrel as if to say, "run, squirrel, run."  To him, it was just a game and he still wanted to play!  Do you see why I sometimes call him bonehead??

Of course, I felt bad about the squirrel and to my knowledge, that's the only one I ever saw him kill.  This one in the picture is a "stand-in".  I try to keep him occupied with his "toys"...his Kong (that black thing in the pic) is one of his favorites.  That and, of course, the red ball!

But, that, my friends is another story!