Predator Mode

Midnight. Cane wants out. But instead of the usual trip outback, he finds Daddy awake and gets a special walk. Cane’s typical jaunt to the east side of the neighborhood is distracted but a smell on the ground that drags across the road. Cane is incessant on finding out the source of the smell. He has his nose pressed to the ground as he pulls along at the leash almost begging for satisfaction.


As soon as he turns the corner of the wooded buffer zone, there it is; a doe and her fawn. Cane is baffled by what to do so he just sits and stares. He is rigid and almost shaking from anticipation of what’s coming next. The doe sees him and freezes too. There is a stand-off that lasts seconds but seems like forever.

Then the doe summons her fawn and bounds into the bushes. Cane goes berserk for a while and has to be dragged off, then the normal walk follows. What excitement! Cane was on high alert for the remainder of the trip.

This would actually be the first of many wildlife encounters. So is the benefit of living in a neighborhood with a nature buffer zone. Every few weeks we are greeted by deer, armadillos or the occasional possum.

There were a few incidents where he had to be dragged away and one destruction of the mechanism in a retractable leash. But lately Cane has learned that he cannot chase them so now he just sits and watches for a while then trots off with constant “rear-view mirror” checks until a new smell or sound distracts him.

I wonder what he would do if he caught one? [Oh yeah (remembers “monster encounter”)!]