A Twisted Tale for Tuesday

This past Sunday, I was out early for the morning dog walk since we were headed out to the agility trials. The path I took returned to the house via some of the neighborhood sidewalks. Despite being in the thick of all the houses (mine is a neighborhood of tiny yards so the houses are quite close together!), sadly, a deer had been hit and killed. Its body lay on the sidewalk. Jimmy and Wilson had differing reactions to this highly unusual find. Wilson sniffed every square inch of the deer. Maybe he was taking advantage of the stillness to really investigate what a deer is made of. He made no effort to mouth it or take a bite. Jimmy, confused as to why it was so still, was wary. He would not approach it closely enough to sniff it. His hackles were up, and he danced around at a safe distance, barking loudly. It was early and I didn't want Jimmy's big mouth disturbing anyone, so with quite a bit of effort, I got the boys to move on.

I guess because it was a Sunday, with the Home Owner's Association staff being off duty, the deer still lay there when I returned home that evening. Not exactly what you want out in front of your house, but what are you going to do? When I took the boys out for their bedtime walk, Wilson, who usually moseys along sniffing each mailbox post, was making a beeline down the street. After a couple of blocks, it was very obvious where he was headed. He wanted to see that deer again! I wasn't too interested in dealing with that scenario again, so I reined him in, and headed in a different direction. Wilson was not happy about that!

On Monday morning, on my way to work, I saw that the deer was still there! And things were starting to get out of hand. There was a large flock of Turkey Buzzards feasting on the carcass. This must have been a very disconcerting sight for the parents dropping their children off at the elementary school that was directly across the street! Egads! Being Veteran's Day, I was worried that another day would go by without the clean-up crew being dispatched, but thankfully, the body was gone when I returned from work.

But the story doesn't end there. This morning, out for our very early walk while it was still dark, we walked the sidewalks so as to be in the street lights. Again, Wilson beelined down the street, not stopping until he reached the spot where the deer had laid. He gave the patch a thorough sniffing, and then, circling a few times, took his morning constitutional right there where the deer had been, followed by a long pee! Maybe he was staking his claim!

I think this gets filed under Weird Dog Behavior, what do you say?

PS Aren't you glad I didn't take any photos?! Photo-ops being what they are, even I draw the limit somewhere ;-)