I took the day off yesterday — I've got some kind of sinus infection — but Callie didn't. She got her daily chore done. We didn't teach the dog to do this. She came up with the idea on her own. I don't know why she started, except that maybe a border collie feels the need to work for its keep.
Over the winter, the vineyard workers (there are 5 or 6 of them) go through all the rows of vines and pull out any grape stumps that have died over the course of the previous growing season. A certain percentage of the plants do die every year. Some of them are decades old.
When we get out to the end of the road and turn to come back home, in this season Callie will carefully examine the piles of grapevine stumps she finds at the ends of the vine rows. She picks out a stump, gets a hold on it so that it is basically balanced, and trots on home with the bout de bois clamped between her jaws.
Meanwhile, there's a cage out on a plot of grass among the rows of grapevines. It appears to be a trap. I can't imagine what animal anybody is trying to catch. A fox? A badger? I'll just have to keep an eye on the cage and see if there's anything in it over the next days and weeks. I'm sure Callie will help. Maybe I'll find somebody out there to ask about it soon.
Does she do it in the evening too, or only in the morning?
ReplyDeleteOnly in the morning...
DeleteThat's a good question, chm :) Ken?
ReplyDeleteLove that Callie to pieces :)
...because we don't often walk out there in the afternoon -- we have other itineraries.
DeleteWhen our granddog poodle is happy she will grab a stick and run with it. When we had dogs they liked to bring their catch home and run through their pet door with them. Sometimes the prey was still alive, once the prey was a rat, but dead when it arrived chez nous lol. We all like to be useful perhaps.
ReplyDeletehard working dog
ReplyDeleteI've told a number of people about Callie's self-appointed job. She's a dog with a purpose.
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky she doesn't try to herd you and Walt. That instinct is usually very strong in BCs, so maybe this is her version of it.
ReplyDeletei'm wondering what the trap was baited with? around here that size of trap would probably be used for coyotes... but i dont think you have them. i think foxes would be trapped in a smaller box. i'll be interested to see what they catch!
ReplyDelete