And, he's off

Many moons ago I saw a dog race--in Wisconsin. The dogs chase an artificial hare and go full-tilt-boogie around the track.

Dieter must dream of chasing things; or maybe he was a greyhound in another life. He's gotten so if he sees a chipmunk or squirrel on the deck, he has to go out. Right then. Now!!! "Oh mom, that critter needs a good chasing."

The shepherd in him means he also tries to herd things. Inside, any hapless cat who wanders into the kitchen has had a shepherd escort  as said cat runs toward the cat passthroughs on the gates. Dieter lives in a gated community right now, to prevent unnecessary cat shepherding. In the good-old days, the cats were better at gauging when Dieter was in his house or when he was roaming the area. As Dieter has aged, he's a "little" bit more quiet, so sometimes a cat mistakes the quiet for dog containment. And gets a surprise as the dog comes sprinting over. "Kitty!!! Hellooo!!! I love you!!!"

Outside, Lloyd has spied Dieter happily trotting next to a chipmunk on our deck. The chipmunk's little feet were a blur as it tried to get away from "The Beast." Dieter just pranced next to it, smiling as he accompanied it.

Dieter also finds birds to be exciting. "Wow, they have wings and can fly and I wish I could do that." His MO is to run toward my bird feeders, give a deep "woof," and happily watch the birds scatter. I swear he is chuckling about their frightened exodus.


Squirrels are another thing though. They're just more fun to chase and, hey, they chatter rudely at Dieter once they've escaped into the safety of the neighbor's yard. The other day some poor, young squirrel made a wrong turn and was trapped on top of our pergola, near the arborvitae. Meanwhile Dieter came spinning out of the turn, racing madly across the deck and around the yard. You'd think he'd get dizzy running in circles, but evidently his inner ears are just fine, thank you.

Dieter is helpful and tries to tell me where the squirrel is hiding out. In this picture, Dieter is acting as a squirrel GPS. "The squirrel's up there, mom."

I thanked Dieter for the squirrel alert and finally got him back in the house. The squirrel very shakily started across the pergola and toward freedom.

If a squirrel could sport a thought balloon, it would probably go thusly: Why grandmother (ok, it would be grandfather in this case)--what large teeth you have. And what a gaping maw I just avoided!