Stalked on a Walk
It’s no secret we live in an area chock full of wild life.
In fact, we’ve encountered a couple of different animals. Some on our wood walks and others just out and about in the neighborhood. For the most part I am on high alert watching for potential threats and diverting my dogs (hopefully) before they see it. Most of the animals we have encountered look at me, look at the two big dogs and head in the opposite direction.
That was until last weekend.
Last weekend we were actually stalked. And I have to tell you, I was completely terrified imagining what would happen if the dogs were to spot the stalker. It was challenging getting the photos but luckily my dogs are used to the Pupparazzi and don’t usually look to see what I’m taking a photo of.
I will let the pictures tell the story and then you will see why I was utterly and truly terrified.
I noticed him when he was high up on the hill and I watched him move down to duck behind the tree.
Can you see it? Right there behind the tree.
Can you see him? Need help? How about a clue?
It’s there, I promise you.
He left the safety of the tree and moved down behind this bush.
Surely you see it now?
From there he darted down to the driveway, where he peeked out at us.
Does the arrow help?
I know the pictures are hard, but it’s a little point and shoot camera!! Here he is where I originally spotted him.
King of all he surveys.
You can understand now why I was terrified of the dogs seeing him. In fact, shortly after the photos were taken Delilah spotted him and I had a hell of a time getting her to keep walking. Nothing in my treat bag was as enticing as that kitten.
Believe it or not seeing this kitty actually makes me a wee bit sad. Not too long ago there was another cat that lived at that house and I haven’t seen him around lately. I watched the other cat catch a chipmunk once, but having an outdoor cat in our area is risky business.
Speaking of chipmunks
You may remember when we met the cat that wouldn’t budge? That cat was nothing to Honey Chipmunk.
This chipmunk is now in the witness protection program. He’s seen too much.
This happened on a morning walk. From about 50 yards away I saw what I thought was a chipmunk sitting on the side of the road. Since I wear glasses I can’t always tell what exactly I’m ‘seeing’ from a distance. (For instance I mistook the sign at the bottom of the hill for a small white dog, that is until I got close enough to really see it.)
So when I first noticed Honey Chipmunk who apparently just doesn’t care that two big dogs are bearing down on him, I thought, “Hmm, I wonder if that’s a chipmunk?” At about 25 yards away, the dogs took notice of Honey Chipmunk. At 15 yards, their demeanor changed, their ears perked up, their body’s stiffened. At 10 yards away they began pulling me. At 5 yards I was straining to hold them back and saying, “Run Honey Chipmunk, run!”
Finally seconds away from contact, Honey Chipmunk darted down the sewer grate. I’m not sure Honey Chipmunk knew how lucky he was.
Delilah’s been itching to catch a chipmunk. She says they taste like chicken.
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OMD kitties and chipmunks? My human would so not have an arm left in her socket. Have a tremendous Thursday.
Best wishes Molly
Sometimes kitties and chipmunks are WAAAAY braver than they should be. I guess they don’t know how delicious they taste…..
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Mom says her arms understand your post quite well. No need to lift weights as long as she has a scent hound on each arm because we are after every critter. I would so love to catch a chipper, but they are a rare find here, I have to go to Gramma’s house to see them. Cats, well, I have my own, but we want to chase and catch any we see outside. Bailie and I are each about 38 lbs, but Mom says it is like holding back 380 lbs on each arm! Glad everyone survived unscathed!
I was beginning to think Honey Chipmunk had a death wish! Hope your stalker is not a 100% outside kitty 🙁
Hi Jodi. I know what you mean by being on high alert when you walk your dogs. I have a very rambunctious, very large (90 pounds) golden retriever who gets extremely excited if she sees anything that she might be able to chase while on our walks. This includes dogs, cats, kids on skateboards, people on bikes, or anything that moves. She is big and strong and I am petite but pretty strong for my size. If I see something in the distance that I know will interest Savanna, I hang onto her leash with both hands and get ready to dig in! 🙂
There are a huge number of feral cats in our little town. I guess it’s a throwback to the rural roots of the community with lots of farm cats around. One summer, there was a black and white cat who stalked us EVERY FREAKING NIGHT on our walks! He’d appear behind us a couple of blocks from home and follow us almost our entire route. It continued on through the fall, but when winter hit, I guess he was less keen to walk through the snow and we were out walking earlier. There was also the time we were stalked by a neighborhood chihuahua…
Torrey would been after both those critters. Especially the chipmunk. She likes to “tree” the squirrels. And….sadly…..no email from your blog today.
Cats are weird; we have a cat in our neighborhood that’s terrified of my dog and yet she still walks behind us sometimes. I just don’t understand the feline mind lol. They sure are cute though.
As for chipmunks I don’t know why they’re so slow to react, seriously. Laika chased one up the side of our house last year. He was just hanging onto the brick. Went to check 4 hours later and he was still in the same spot.
We have had the micro squirrels pushing the envelope lately. One of these days…
Had no internet at home this morning…grrr.
What a cute kitty!! We ran across an orange kitten in the middle of nowhere on our last hike.. I felt so bad for him! Right now we are having a major problem with wildlife. We have new neighbors who are feeding.. It’s been pretty bad. The dogs got into a fence fight with a coyote. Raccoons, skunks, coyotes and deer galore.. I’m worried that with all the deer it’s going to bring the cougar down, too..
Chipmunks are tough! We don’t even always see them….they often give away their position with their chattering, and the dogs know that noise!
I had to laugh at the glasses thing. Earlier this week I took Cricket up into the fields at the farm above us. I saw something in the distance and stood there squinting to try and see what it was. A woodchuck? Would Cricket want to chase that? It turned out to be a crow….they look a lot like woodchucks, right? LOL
Kitties and chipmunks on walks, oh my! Bentley & Pierre would have been so excited! Of course, we don’t have chipmunks, but squirrels are fun to terrorize!
I think cats enjoy teasing dogs…I know my two kitties are prime examples.
Our neighbor cats also tease the dogs, they sit and watch us pass by. On a good note it has really helped us work with both dogs (SEPARATELY so that we could really work on it). We practice walking by the neighbor kitties, having the dogs sit, give eye contact, and ignore/try to ignore the cat.
It’s really been good for Ziva. 🙂