Why this didn't happen earlier is a mystery to me. She runs across our native cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) often while flushing birds and snaps at them seemingly without expectation of success. They are fast afoot, using well-worn tunnels to slip through the grass and escape. The rats are curiously easy or my Harris hawk to catch yet, until now, impossible for the dog.
A hawk's eye view of the rat's route may help the bird choose where best to strike; but the dog pokes along at root level, always a moment too late on the draw.
Sunday Rina must have had a revelation: If she runs 15 feet ahead of us, she can jam her head in along the trail and catch rats as they pass. You'd think she invented time travel for all her excitement, and maybe she has.... Think forward 15 feet, four seconds into the future, expect the rat to pass, and SNAP!
Shooting video of this, while hawking too, proved fruitless. But I got this one funny bit of Rina working "deep, deep undercover," disguised as a terrier.
1 comment:
That's a happy dog!
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