Thursday, May 20, 2010

Vole Patrol!

Warning to Readers:  This post contains content that may not be suitable for the squeamish.  At the very least, put down that sandwich!



While I was away last week visiting Coconut and Daughter , Sophie was left in the capable hands of Hubby, aka Mr. Procrastinator.  However, I was concerned about Sophie--Mr. P and I have different views on child-dog-rearing.  While I keep a close eye on her or walk her on a leash, Mr. P prefers to "let her run."  "She needs the exercise," he scolds me, "and she'll come back when she's ready."  That may be true, but like a child who knows which parent is the pushover, Sophie comes when Mr. P calls, but likes to tease me and often pretends to be deaf when I call her.


Nevertheless, I came home to find her safe and sound and so happy to see me.  She's even been better behaved since I came home.  She loves to join me in the garden, sometimes just content to supervise, but other times "helping" me dig a hole for a plant, raking up mulch, or mixing up the compost pile all by herself:)  But if the chores become too tedious, she starts to wander off.  Yesterday, I realized she was no longer beside me.  I scanned the fields for her wagging tail and eventually saw her in the back yard of a house in the neighboring subdivision.  Uh-oh.  I grabbed her leash and set out across the muddy field, crunching through the cornstubble.



By now she had had her fun and was on her way back home, but I could see she had found something along the way.  Oh no, had she finally caught a bird?  As she came up to me, I was thankful it wasn't a bird, but rather a vole.  Or at least I think it was a vole--it might have been a field mouse instead, but by this time it was a slobbery, disgusting, and unrecognizable mess.  "Good girl!" I said.  "You can catch all the voles and mice you want."  Sophie was so pleased she wasn't getting scolded that she lay down to enjoy her prize. (Notice those dirty paws!)


"Yuck! Sophie don't eat it . . ."


"I like the way the little bonesies go crunch."



"Do you think there are any more of them over there?"


"It's okay, Mom; I promise not to give you a kiss until you've brushed my teeth."


Well, I guess it beats setting out chewed up bubblegum or peanut butter on mousetraps!

35 comments:

  1. What a good dog! Voles are the enemy!

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  2. Too funny! Why do they love the stink and flavor of dead things. She is very pretty and Tucker says hey to her.

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  3. Good girl Sophie. It does gross me out to watch them eat such things. Luna thinks that the rabbits nest full of babies are her snack dish served up by the long eared creatures. Yuck. There they go acting like dogs.

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  4. Ahh! She's sweet to her mom and how helpful around her mom's garden! You're lucky!

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  5. Too funny Rose! At least you don't have to worry about vole traps.

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  6. Good dog!!! She just needs to understand the only voles she should catch are the ones on your property:)

    I had a German Shepherd that caught field mice. He would toss them into the air, catch them and swallow them whole. Yuck.
    Marnie

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  7. I'm glad I read this before eating breakfast! Really, though, I'm cheering for Sophie. Good girl for making a meal of that nasty vole!

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  8. Rose, so funny! Please tell Sophie I love her for a job well done. She would have a hay day here - everywhere I turn is a hole/tunnel beneath the earth's surface. I gave up using/buying all the "gimmicks" to rid them of my flower beds - nothing worked. I long for the day the neighbor's cat would visit and discover them, but then play with them (too well fed).

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  9. Good dog! I'm going to show Tommy this post and explain how some pets earn their keep. :)

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  10. Can I borrow Sophie please? Rose, I love your photos and they aren't half as graphic as some I took last year after my dog, Jack, caught one of the wretched beasts. I even captured his long front tooths - my niece in Arizona was horrified and she probably hasn't looked at my blog since! I like the idea of sharing my garden with wildlife, but there is a limit to my patience with the vole population.

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  11. Who could resist her! Beautiful girl. Filthy feet though, glad I didn't have to clean her up!

    Sx

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  12. Good good dog! It sure looks like a vole and she'll be on the prowl from now on. Yeah!

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  13. Oh dear! It looks like I'm the only one who feels sorry for the Vole but that's me I'm afraid, too soft by half ;)

    I had to smile about the sandwich warning though as I was just about to eat one when I started to look earlier so decided to heed your words and come back later!

    Sophie really is a beautiful dog (despite her terrible taste in food :) ) and what a lovely photo of Coconut.

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  14. Hi Rose.....I must confess I was not going to read that post. You should know by now what I am like.

    Nella never eats her kill. She does the job and brings the rabbit/rat to me. I believe whoever had Nella originally trained her to do this.


    Tell Sophie she is still cute......even without her teeth being cleaned.lol

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  15. Good dog indeed but that was still pretty gross. lol ;) At least she didn't bring it to you as a present as my cat does huh?

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  16. ...Chipmunks are the enemy here. Please come visit and bring Sophie! LOL...bonesies go crunch! gail

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  17. She is earning her keep...but I would have been really grossed out to see it happen!

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  18. Ohmygoodness, Rose! There was a vole in my front gardens just two weeks ago. I was standing Right There with a neighbor-friend, and this little mole came running out and struggled to get in a hole. If I'd had anything in my hand, I could have given it a thump! I think I need your Sophie to visit!! :-)

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  19. Such a good dog indeed. I have moles...
    Maybe Sophie could help me out!
    I am looking forward to seeing my daughter in Portland. I have been to all the different public gardens and I think this time we are planning a short hop out to the coast to Haystack Rock to see Puffins...I hope to see Puffins.
    Sherry

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  20. Oh my goodness...... its a wonder they don't go down with something nasty, eating a raw vole!
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

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  21. And you didn't even have to train her. Nature red in tooth and claw - and sometimes it is to our advantage.

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  22. I'm amazed by the disgusting things that dogs will eat. I won't go into any more detail than that:) Sophie thanks everyone for their comments and is glad to know that voles are okay to hunt. She says "hi" to Tucker, Luna, Tommy, Jack, and all her other new cyber friends. She would love to play with you!

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  23. Cheryl and Jan, Sorry to have presented something so disgusting. I'm very tender-hearted when it comes to animals, but voles and mice don't get much sympathy from me.

    Racquel, Yes, I've had "presents" from my cats, too:)

    Sherry, I thought you had probably visited many of the gardens in Portland already. I hope you get to see some puffins! (I'll have to check that out on my next trip.)

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  24. Of course, the warning at the top of your post grabbed my curiosity and I dived right in.

    Then I exclaimed EEWWWW! right out loud and now everyone here in the coffee shop is looking at Sophie and saying she's too cute to eat such ickies.

    Rose and Sophie are now local celebs. :))

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  25. rose,
    we have some vole hunting dogs too.
    they love to eat, roll, carry around those varmits. i also recently found a chipmunck(one leg missing and gross creatures growing in the missing part. so yucky.
    happy may days in the garden.

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  26. Sophie ... such a beautiful name for your huntress, Rose. (I would be reluctant to have her lick me for awhile.) Happy gardening weekend :)

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  27. Oh my goodness...

    We do not have voles - maybe that explains why my golden likes to eat dog poop ;-)

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  28. Eeewwww! I see Sophie could teach George a thing or two Rose! He chases rodents, but has never caught one. I'm not sure he's really trying to though, and I do appreciate him patroling the garden and flushing out the enemy. Unfortunately, they are free to come back another day using his patrol method.

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  29. Ewwwwww! Crunchy vole bones! Yuk!! Ha - but your pics are really good!

    Cute story - you brought a smile to my face - thanks!

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  30. Oh, Rose, you and Sophie really know how to tell a story. Maybe Sophie could come here and help me with the chipmunks...not eat them, just scare them away, very far away. The annuals have been in containers only a couple of days and already the Chippies have been digging away.

    I'd luv to be able to set out across a muddy field, crunching through the cornstubble instead of walking directly into the neighbor's yard. Sounds heavenly where you live.

    donna

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  31. Could I borrow her for the week?

    I have many voles for her to chomp.

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  32. Ewwwww! Sorry. I'm squeamish. I know it's the natural order of things.

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  33. Clever Sophie!

    Oh I've seen that backward look on George so many times. A 'is it worth going over there?' look.

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  34. Were you thinking of B. Kliban when you wrote about the little bonesies? "Love to eat them mousies, mousies what I love to eat. Bite they little heads off, nibble on they tiny feet." Let's hear it for Sophie, the exterminator!

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  35. Cindy, Yes, those were the lines I was trying to remember! I googled the phrase but nothing came up. Ah, yes, B. Kliban...thanks so much for identifying this for me.

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