Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The view from my backyard . . .

I am about to admit something that I found today that was absolutely horrifying in my backyard!!! Don and I are working on a project that will be revealed sometime this month on our blog (it is almost finished!!). As I was about to begin my stage of the project, I noticed Godiva shoot around to the side yard. Not completely out of the norm, since she is a huge chaser of anything that moves even grass and sticks sometimes. When she returned to the main yard, she was not alone. She was preceded by a young robin that was flying low to the ground. It was squealing bloody murder and as I continued to watch this saga enfold before my eyes, I realized why it was screeching so awfully. . . GODIVA! Out of nowhere her paw batted the bird back to the ground and continued the chase on her level. She continued to play cat and mouse throughout the backyard. The bird then brought backup. I had several other robins sitting on the tree limbs, surrounding fences and shed all squawking at the hunter and yet helpless in their attempt to free their friend. Godiva paying no mind to anything other than the prey in front of her amused herself by grabbing the bird by the wing and flinging it. (You are probably thinking, "Katrina, for goodness sake, do something, anything, for the life of this helpless bird rests in your hands!!") So being the quick and independent thinker that I am, I picked up my cell and called Don! I held the phone up in the air so he could hear the chaos coming from our small backyard and explained that our dog, yes dog, not lion, had caused this ruckus. He brought me back to the sobering reality that Godiva is a Labrador Retriever. She is bred to retrieve birds and that I should tell her "good girl" and put her in the house and we'll deal with the defeathered carcass later. To which I submissively responded, okay. But I couldn't do this before I got some good photos for those who are visual learners! =) I then had to call the mother of Godiva's best friend to explain that I don't think our dogs are good for each other anymore (completely joking!). Godiva has taught Cali some naughty habits, and now it seems as if Cali is teaching Godiva a thing or two about a dog's life (Sorry Sarah, your secret is no longer safe!)





For those of you who are still worried about the bird, I brought Godiva back into the house; I pulled out the shovel and freed the bird into our neighbor's yard. However, I don't believe this bird will make it back into the tree. I never thought of my sweet Godiva being so cruel. Fly hunter, yes! Cockroach killer, Yes, Yes! Cricket smoosher, fine and dandy! Grasshopper chomper, that is just grand! Bird torturer, I'm not too keen on this new development! This now concludes the episode of "The Circle of Life at our Chesapeake Home"! Excuse me as I go and wash out Godiva's mouth, which is suppose to be one of the cleanest mouths all of the animal kingdom, but is now infected with all the diseases that the bird might have been carrying with it!

9 comments:

cranny + b said...

KATRINA HINES!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe you took a picture of that poor bird!! Our two dogs are going downhill fast...or should I say my dog;) Two bad habits in one week...first she chewed Godiva's bed and now she has passed on her very bad habit of killing birds;( Okay, I still cannot believe you took a picture of that poor little guy!! I'll have to call my peta friends. just kidding;))

T.J. and Shannon said...

What a great story! Poor little birdie.:( Way to have your camera ready to share Godiva's escapade with all of us.

Anonymous said...

Katrina,

My dog (a mutt) is also a bird dog. She and her sister (owned by my parents) have hunted and killed several birds. I was horrified the first time she killed a bird, but that is nature to her. I wish she would stick to killing houseflies.

Melinda Murrell

cranny + b said...

okay--I just had to tell you this. We let Cali outstide on Monday night before bed. About 3 minutes later we hear this scratch, scratch, scratch!!! She has NEVER scratched on the door to come in....I wish she would've picked up on Godiva's ability to "speak" or "jump" or her smartness to open doors or sleep by the air vent to keep cool or any of Godiva's great traits...but she picked that one up;))) too funny;) We need to sit these two down and have a chat;) !!

Tricia said...

I know the feeling well. A few birds have fallen prey to our two dogs. However, the worst was this spring, when after I had uttered many a warning to the adult bunnies that were constantly hopping around our place, not to make their nest and place their baby bunnies in our yard for fear of their certain demise. They did not heed my voice and one day while Ryan was working out in the yard - thankfully - the dogs ferreted out the bunny hole and got one of the sweet little things. So then I had to basically make a fortress around the nest, so that our dogs wouldn't get to all of them. I know it's their nature, but it's still sad. Such is life I guess!

Tim, Kristen , Megan, Emily, and Anna said...

That is a crazy story. Can't wait to see what you are up to with your project. When do you start volleyball? I know it is soon. Let me know so maybe I can come out with you one day!!

Beth said...

Godiva is beautiful and such a yummy name! :) I personally think your story is great and that you took pics is very funny. I'm guessing that your backyard reveal isn't going to be a lovely bird sanctuary?!

jeileenbaylor said...

Oh my goodness, you just crack me up with your story telling :o)

Karis said...

Never having been around dogs much, I don't even know what to say except it gave you a very unusual blog topic!