Rescue dog vs. livestock

Jasper and I live in Thousand Oaks, CA. There are many interesting aspects of this community but the one that captures me most is the presence of livestock. This is a city, a suburb of Los Angeles, for crying out loud. It’s true that this area was once home to several movie ‘ranches’, that there are large commercial farms nearby. But to walk just a few doors down and come across horses in the yard is strange. And, there are lots of horses in this neighborhood. The homes around here are not what one would think of as ‘horse property’. We’re not talking acreage here. This is a fairly dense residential area. The homes have a generous backyard, two car garage, ample parking for an RV… or for a horse. I’m pretty sure there’s not room for both.

Jasper has a strong prey drive. It’s not by choice, it’s the terrier in him. He whines and whimpers and acts like he’s lost his mind when he sees a cat. The squirrels have learned to taunt him, dancing back and forth on the telephone wires once they know they have his attention. The crows fly from pole to tree to pole causing him to jump up in the air and flop, twisting and turning, yipping all the while. Poor Jasper can’t stand little moving creatures. He experiences temporary insanity in their presence.

Recently a rooster can be heard crowing in the morning. It’s not far away either, it’s on a property adjacent to ours. I imagine some of the neighbors find it annoying, but I like it. His morning serenade (if crowing can be called that) seems to round out the country atmosphere of Thousand Oaks.

No doubt that most people reading this won’t think of a chicken as livestock. I think that term is typically used for animals with hooves. However, us city-dwellers consider anything that’s not a pet and can be dinner to be livestock. And, it’s my understanding that where there are roosters, there will be chickens. This morning Planet Jasper was invaded by a chicken.

As you may know, chickens don’t fly, but brother can they run! Jasper is very fast, but this chicken out maneuvered him like nobody’s business. The chicken had the advantage of utilizing ground cover and shrubbery for brief diversions, but it did not have a safe place to hide. Jasper had the thing in his mouth a few times. Gawd what a racket! I think the sqwaking is what saved it. Caught the J-Man so off guard that he dropped it just to see what he’d had in his mouth.

We have a large backyard. I hadn’t thought of that as being a disadvantage until today. It’s a lot of territory to cover chasing a dog that’s chasing a chicken that’s running for its life. They cut and ran from one end of the place to the other like lightening. Jasper, running, delirious, making his excited baby noises, the chicken screaming and flapping it’s wings, and staying just a breath ahead of the dog. Well, mostly ahead. Like I said, Jasper got her a few times but promptly let her go.

I will never know why or how, but after about five minutes of hysteria there was a perfect moment when time stood still; the chicken was quiet, the dog stopped and was miraculously within my reach. In hindsight I wish I’d thought to make him lie down right there in the presence of the prey for a lesson in submission, but I was so damned relieved to have caught him, and that he didn’t kill the bird, that I just walked him into the house.

Before I let Jasper out a few hours later, I checked the yard thoroughly, looking everywhere I thought a chicken might hole up, or die of fright. She was nowhere to be found. I suppose she was able to go the same way she came. Quietly over the fence.

Posted by: georgann | 04-08-2008 | 03:04 AM
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