baymule
Garden Master
I was working in my garden today. From time to time I'd sit down and cool off and when I did, I got lots of attention from the dogs. Parker got in my face so I tossed him a stick.
If Parker gets a stick, suddenly Trip is intensely intrigued by sticks and he wants THAT stick. Parker loves the game and they both bite the stick until one takes it away from the other. Polly got her own stick.
Rest time over, I went back to work in the garden. Parker, Trip and Polly played "stick". Parker took off running for the north side of the house, barking excitedly with Trip right behind him. I figured he saw a rabbit. A few minutes later, they ran around the front of the house to the other side, still yipping. I heard my husband yelling at them, so thought I'd go investigate. My husband said Trip had his feet on the top of the fence trying to get to the horses. That didn't sound like Trip's normal behavior, but I petted the dogs, petted the horses, called the dogs and headed back to the garden. Parker came, still barking, Trip refused to come and laid in front of the horse fence.
Since Trip wouldn't come, Parker ran back.
Clearly something was wrong, but what? Trip was definitely watching over his friend, Joe.
They looked like they were talking it over. What were they saying?
Sparkles snorted at a bunch of grass behind Joe, so I opened the gate and went to have a look. In the deep grass was a huge snake! I called my husband over and he came with a long tree branch. We ran down the list of poisonous snakes, Rattlesnake, Coral, Moccasin, Copperhead, and it was none of those. We figured it was a rat snake, and it was more than welcome to catch rats and gophers!
But the horses and dogs were upset with it being there. So my husband stuck the end of the branch under it and flipped it.
He kept flipping the snake until it went over the fence. The durn thing came right back! My husband flipped it over the fence again and this time it headed for the woods. The horses were safe from that awful ol' giant horse eating snake! We praised the dogs excessively and they wriggled, wagged and slobbered their happiness with themselves. Trip still wouldn't leave the horse fence. We were walking away and turned to see Trip and Joe talking again. We just awwww'ed at the sight--Joe had his head over the fence to Trip and Trip was licking his nose. Job well done Parker and Trip!
If Parker gets a stick, suddenly Trip is intensely intrigued by sticks and he wants THAT stick. Parker loves the game and they both bite the stick until one takes it away from the other. Polly got her own stick.
Rest time over, I went back to work in the garden. Parker, Trip and Polly played "stick". Parker took off running for the north side of the house, barking excitedly with Trip right behind him. I figured he saw a rabbit. A few minutes later, they ran around the front of the house to the other side, still yipping. I heard my husband yelling at them, so thought I'd go investigate. My husband said Trip had his feet on the top of the fence trying to get to the horses. That didn't sound like Trip's normal behavior, but I petted the dogs, petted the horses, called the dogs and headed back to the garden. Parker came, still barking, Trip refused to come and laid in front of the horse fence.
Since Trip wouldn't come, Parker ran back.
Clearly something was wrong, but what? Trip was definitely watching over his friend, Joe.
They looked like they were talking it over. What were they saying?
Sparkles snorted at a bunch of grass behind Joe, so I opened the gate and went to have a look. In the deep grass was a huge snake! I called my husband over and he came with a long tree branch. We ran down the list of poisonous snakes, Rattlesnake, Coral, Moccasin, Copperhead, and it was none of those. We figured it was a rat snake, and it was more than welcome to catch rats and gophers!
But the horses and dogs were upset with it being there. So my husband stuck the end of the branch under it and flipped it.
He kept flipping the snake until it went over the fence. The durn thing came right back! My husband flipped it over the fence again and this time it headed for the woods. The horses were safe from that awful ol' giant horse eating snake! We praised the dogs excessively and they wriggled, wagged and slobbered their happiness with themselves. Trip still wouldn't leave the horse fence. We were walking away and turned to see Trip and Joe talking again. We just awwww'ed at the sight--Joe had his head over the fence to Trip and Trip was licking his nose. Job well done Parker and Trip!
LOVE your stories... and your dogs.. and your horses 
