Brave Guard Dog

My mother has a bird feeder hanging outside a large picture window in her living room. She keeps it ever-full of food, especially during the winter time, and birds come to feed from it all year round.

When we first moved in with my mom, Snickers (my rat terrier) was very upset by the birds constantly intruding upon his territory. Determinedly, he guarded the picture window. Each time he detected an intruder settling upon the bird feeder to try to steal our birdseed, he sounded the alert and lept to denfend it. (AKA He barked and scratched up the window sill, trying to get out the window through the glass.)

Over time, Snickers became accustomed to the birds. But NOW there is a new intruder. A small squirrel comes to eat bird seed that has fallen onto the snow. The poor little thing must be hungry this far into such a cold winter.

He stands guard on the seat

Snickers, though, has detected the new intruder. Courageously, he stands guard on the seat of my favorite chair, front paws on the arm rest, peering out the picture window for hours at a time to guard the homestead. When the intruder comes to steal the seed on the ground, Snickers sounds the alert, barking ferociously and attacking the window to scare off the rascal.

Unlike the birds, the squirrel knows Snickers cannot get through the window. He continues gathering seed. Snickers goes crazy and I open the back door for him to run outside. Then I come back to the living room to wait until he is ready to come inside. It does not take long to chase the squirrel up a tree and patrol the premises for signs of other intruders, then return to the back door where I let him back into the house.

Once inside, Snickers runs to the window to watch again for the squirrel. It takes all of about two minutes for the squirrel to gather his courage and return to collect more bird food. Every morning and every evening, it is the same. Snickers runs in and out of the house, barking and jumping like a crazy dog, until the squirrel is done collecting food. I sit down, then stand up to open the door. Then sit down again, then stand up to open the door. Over and over and over.

I cannot wait until Spring when the squirrel will be able to find food elsewhere or, at least, it will not be so cold and I can leave my brave guard dog outside for longer periods of time.