One of the basic commands Edgar (and Evie – Edgar’s sister here for a few more weeks) are learning is “Leave It”. It means redirect yourself – leave that thing alone and go find something else to do. It is a very useful command and probably one of the more well used ones , especially at this point in his young life. He seems to have a good understanding of the concept but it was really put to the test the other morning.
A few days ago I had noticed a large hole had been chewed into our wooden grain box. Not a mouse sized hole, maybe a rat sized hole, but it would be a big, fat, nasty, King of the Rats type rat. We don’t usually have a rat problem as the cats and dogs tend to take care of them so this seemed rather strange.
Anyhow I noticed the hole through the wood and into the bag of soybean but since I had never seen a rat in action I wasn’t too concerned. I think they must hear the dogs and I coming and head for cover. But today as I flipped up the lid of that grain box and grabbed the edge of the bag a grey blur flew out of the bag, ran over my arm, landed on Evie’s back, jumped down, ran past Edgar, and leaped across the yard headed for the woods. I screamed, dropped the grain scoop, and Edgar and Evie were off chasing the squirrel that had just about given me a heart attack.
Why that squirrel didn’t run up a tree I don’t know but it ran down the hill to the stream and back up the other side. The dogs were fast but they had to plow through deep snow whereas the squirrel could stay on top of the snow. Not knowing how far that squirrel was going to run I didn’t want the puppies following it into the deep woods. There are coyote and bear out in those woods. So I yelled out “LEAVE IT!!! Come here!”. Fortunately, and somewhat to my surprise, both puppies stopped in their tracks and came bounding back to me. Lots of patting and praising for those good puppies. Seemed like Edgar and Evie had really mastered the Leave it command. I felt pretty proud of little Edgar’s and Evie’s smarts.