I'm afraid Gail failed to take a photo of last week's most important and exciting event.
It took place during a walk with Gail and her friend Henry, on Morven, a favourite Aberdeenshire hill.
Gail did at least get a picture of me near the summit cairn, only a short while before and only a few meters from where the exciting and important event took place.
So let me tell you what happened next.
As Gail and her friend Henry started the descent, I wandered 'off-piste'. Not an unusual occurrence.
I heard Gail shouting "Come Nobby, COME!" but a rustling noise in the moss and stunted heather had captured my attention.
I pounced on this wriggling little furry creature, which started squeaking, just like one of my toys, as I held it between my jaws.
What fun! I was happily entertaining myself, dropping my squeaky new plaything, then picking it up again, when Gail approached and rudely dragged me away.
"Leave it Nobby, LEAVE IT!"
Stupidly, on reflex I relaxed my hold and watched my prize catch scuttle off into the low growing vegetation. I could not follow as Gail had for once moved fast and clamped on my lead before I realized what she was up to.
But later, I did feel rather proud when Gail said to Henry that in nearly 24 years of owning terriers, this the first time one had actually caught a rodent* in her presence.
*Gail says: I'm pretty sure it was a field vole - they are apparently known to have a squeak that sounds like a child's toy. I am more than a little surprised that the vole apparently survived the encounter with Nobby's jaws, although I fear it would have suffered psychological damage, at the very least!
Hari Om
ReplyDeleteWell... Nobby... Your true colours are showing through, it seems! Full terrierism shines forth... That'll keep Gail on the alert!!! Hugs and wags YAM-aunty xxx
Gail replies: surely 'full terrierism' would not involve the vole escaping alive...
DeleteHari OM
Deleteheheh, thanks to the Hand of Gail... 🫥 Yxx
oooh what a find! the week starts good for you... :o)
ReplyDeleteMy goodness Nobby - what were you planning to do with that poor little rodent? I don't think I've ever seen a vole, maybe we don't have them here. Of course I may yet surprise Carol and bring her something similar from my perambulations round the garden!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Paca xx
Well done Gail, and that poor vole may have PTSD for the rest of its life. It's OK Nobby, that is what most dogs do with rodents, and it seems all dogs are descended from wolves, so Happy Mutt day from The Big Mutt Beau, even though it was your ancestors that might have been mutts. We have had 2 dogs that killed what they caught, no matter what it was. and 2 that chased but did not capture, and Big Boy and Beau that neither chased, captured or killed. Beau has brought me a live baby possum twice. carried it gently like a baby which it was. thanks for the info on the wolf heritage
ReplyDeleteWell done, Nobby - you are rightly proud of yourself. We humans cannot expect you to differentiate between the species of rodents. Well done, Gail, for intervening before life expired, through shock or teeth.
ReplyDeleteNice catch, Nobby! Bummer that Gail had to put the clamp on you.
ReplyDeleteSTANDING OVATION and pure jubilation and Glee Nobby. WTG your pawrents and littermates would surely have a grand parade in your honor if they knew.
ReplyDeletePS Please tell Gail her words about the event gave my mind's eye a 100% clear view of it from across the pond.
WELL DONE Nobby
Hugs Cecilia
I think my comment vanished!
ReplyDeleteNobby, you are to be congratulated on your expertise. It's not your fault you can't differentiate between rodent species. Well done, Gail, for saving a small creature.
Well done, Nobby. It's too bad Gail had to spoil the fun and make you drop your catch. We try to catch the mice, moles, and voles that live in our yard but have never been successful. When there is deep snow in the winter you can see the mice trails just under the snow. We try to stick our heads under the snow to catch them, but they are never there.
ReplyDeleteWell done, both Nobby and Gail!
ReplyDeleteWe are so very excited for you Nobby, you very first real live squeaky toy! Your toy was luckier than mine(a baby bunny)...It didn't squeak for long, and I had to go out on a lead for 2 weeks after I ummmm, desqueaked, it.
ReplyDeletexoxo,
Rosy
Great excitement, Nobby!!!That would have been an awesome pic to see. Timber caught a very young squirrel several months ago, and when Mom told him to leave it, he was such a good boy and dropped it. BUT old man Lightning snatched it up quicker than, well, lightning. Mom tried and tried to get Lightning to open his jaws of steel, but by the time he did, the poor little guy didn't make it. Sad, but at least he didn't eat it.
ReplyDeleteWoos - Lightning, Misty, and Timber
Congratulations. I think you will be glad you let it go. Who wants that on their conscous.
ReplyDeleteNobby two comments here - F says she grew up in a place called Morven (inappropriately named because it was as flat as a pancake, but there were lots of rocks - river washed ones). Of more interest is the squeaky toy. I've had my share of those, fun aren't they? I used to store them in shoes.
ReplyDeleteWow! Chester would have been so proud of your hunting prowess, Nobby! Neither of us girlie pups have ever caught anything that wasn't a squeaky toy. But we're learning.
ReplyDeleteHow very exciting to catch a vole! (Our late sister Kiki used to catch what we thought were shrews, but now we think they might have been voles.) You should be very proud!
ReplyDelete