The backyard is littered with feathers …. and a reliable eyewitness reports that the perpetrator of the attempted murder was a member of our household.
Meet Willow. She is a Bernedoodle, who joined us in Decembers, at age 7 months, and will be one year old next week. Although she is our third dog, she is our first chewer, a totally new and often distressing (and sometimes expensive) experience. In addition, when she decides to be zoomy, she can be downright dangerous to be around, as she seems to think nothing of bouncing off people with her body and her mouth as she careens madly around the yard or house. Due to her antics, she has been nicknamed “The Beast”. Fortunately for all of us, she also has her sweet, loving moments, during which one cannot help but adore her.
One of the most challenging aspects of Willow’s behavior is that she loves to chase chickens (and goats). Needless to say, we try to make sure she is on leash when the chickens are out and about. But, because the chickens spend half the day free ranging, this can be challenging. We have had a few dramatic failures, which have resulted in me running around frantically behind Willow, shouting at her to stop (which she doesn’t), while panicked chickens run all over the place. Just by sheer luck, up until now, when she has succeeded in grabbing a chicken, I have managed to grab her at about the same time.
Then, on the afternoon of May 8, at approximately 5:30 pm, based on the statement from the key witness, Mr. Gary Casper, Willow attempted murder. The incident happened during a time when I was away from the house. Gary and Willow were sitting together in the fenced backyard when our red rooster unwisely decided to fly over the fence into the yard. Willow immediately took off in hot pursuit. After a prolonged chase (Willow of the rooster, and Gary of Willow) and multiple attempts by Willow to fatally injure the rooster, Gary was able to catch Willow and remove her from the yard (and the rooster). I arrived home to find the victim huddled in the underbrush, terrified and in shock, with multiple bruises and scratches and most of the feathers on the back end of his body missing. Although my initial assessment raised concern that he might have sustained a life-ending injury, once removed from the dangerous situation he rallied, and seems to be recovering nicely, despite his naked backside. One of the advantages of a rooster’s beautiful tail plumage that I had never considered is that it gives predators something to hang on to while the rooster gets away.
Willow, despite being soundly rebuked for her behavior, has shown no remorse for her actions. And just in case the accused tries to convince you that she was acting solely in a defensive position, protecting Gary from an invading rooster, I have at least two other witnesses willing to take the stand to testify that both before the red rooster incident and after, Willow has taken great pleasure in charging the chicken fence or lunging for the chickens on the end of the leash, just for the joy of terrorizing them and seeing them run. I don’t think she stands a chance in court.
But in all seriousness, this does have to stop. We hope to have baby goats arriving in 2 months and I am sure baby goats will be fun to chase! URGHHH! What Willow and I learned in her basic manners class has proved insufficient to help us. And we need help! In the hope of getting a handle on many aspects of her wild behaviors, we have a personal trainer coming to the house, starting this week. Our goal: learn how to help Willow be her best self (and keep our chickens alive). Wish us luck. If we are successful, in a few months maybe I can write a story about “Taming the Beast.”
