Friday, August 24, 2012

Squirrels Are For Chasing

Out On A Limb
c. 2012 Claudia Ballard
5 x 7 acrylic on canvas panel

Apologies for having been missing in action so long.  I had a serious skin infection that landed me in the hospital for a bit.  But I am on the mend and loaded up with antibiotics for quite some time to come. Hurray!  It is good to be back home and back in my studio.

Of all the dogs I have known, only a couple of small poodles were not inclined to chase squirrels.  Sam, our “granddog” golden retriever, spent hours slowly stalking them...like they could not see his 96-pound frame approaching.  They would taunt him by waiting until the last second to scamper up a tree.  Sam would try to follow them up the tree, jumping wildly in a futile effort to get them to come back down.  He gave a few of the squirrels a near heart attack as his tactics improved.  ;-) 

On the farm we had a beagle named Barney…scrappy and fearless.  His hunting partner, Shelly, was a shaggy, white female, a wild dog who was adopted as a puppy and tamed (sort of).  She had good instincts for hunting.  They would each chase the same squirrel, working together, one straight on and one sneaking around the house to come up behind it.  The squirrels still usually won.    I think the real fun for them was in the chase.  Goodness knows it provided lots of entertainment for us watching them.