John the Mighty Hunter

Dachshunds are hunting dogs. I kind of view them as a self directed vermin eradication system. Here is a picture of John (foreground) and Crunch rooting around under a tree stump.


Huntin' dogs

Yesterday Nate breathlessly burst into the house and announced “John is eating a snake!”

I was puttering about the kitchen making dinner. After a brief pause I decided I should go out and investigate what is going on. If it was indeed a snake I needed to know what kind. We do have a copperheads in the area and if had been bitten I should get John to the vet.

I trooped outside with my full entourage of four children.

John was peacefully sitting in the middle of the lawn happily chewing on... something.

Nate reached the dog first and said “Drop it!”

Once I was there John complied.

While restraining John from his prize I stared at the little pile of who knows what that lay there on the grass. I then instructed the children to get me a stick. I envisioned being brought a nice, reasonably sized twig to poke at the thing. Instead I was presented with the four largest branches Jake and Nate could drag over. With a sigh I broke off two small branches and examined the pile.

It was a leg.

So much for the snake theory.

Nate then told me he could see the skin and it was like the ball python we used to have.

So I stared some more and decided it looked like it might have been part of a frog. There were no bumps on the skin and the dog was not foaming at the mouth, thus ruling out a toad. What was left of the skin was mottled leading me to think it was a leopard frog.

Mystery solved I chucked the sad little remains into the woods and went inside. I then called Diane to give her the latest carnage report.

It is sort of a running joke I have with Diane. Every time Crunch or John catches something I give her a call. It amuses the both of us. Just last week I reported that John had caught a mole. I don’t know if he ate it or not. I had to head back inside before my entourage came out to join me. All I saw was John calmly pulling it out of the ground and flipping it about. He didn’t quite know what to do with his new toy. This time John seemed to have a better grasp on what to do with the frog.


Nate

Pupdate: So far the puppies are holding their own. All but one have gained an ounce. The smallest girl is hanging in there. She has a slight cleft palate, but she is eating.