Baxter the Hunter

Every morning, before I go to work, I let Baxter outside. We usually go in the backyard and we spend a few minutes back there before coming back out front. On Friday, we were walking around the side of the house, approaching the front lawn, when Baxter suddenly stopped. There it was. A squirrel right by the new oak tree my dad had planted in the yard last weekend. I have never seen a dog run so fast. One moment, he was right next to me and then I blinked. The next second, Baxter was tearing across the front yard and then something happened that was like having my own personal National Geographic show right in front of me. You all know the moment I'm talking about. When the lion catches up to the gazelle and the camera slows down as the lion pounces on its prey.

Baxter caught the squirrel, capturing the tail between his teeth, but the squirrel managed to escape from the jaws of death and sprint for the other tree in my front yard, tearing up the trunk. Baxter almost caught him again though when the squirrel came down the trunk for a split second before disappearing up in the branches. Baxter sat underneath that tree for almost fifteen minutes waiting for the squirrel to come down. Is it strange if I feel oddly proud of Baxter for almost catching that squirrel? That is what terriers were bred to do. It is in his nature to catch vermin and he almost succeeded. He would have made his Westie ancestors proud. I honestly don't know what I would have done though if Baxter had caught the squirrel. He has had his rabies shot but I am not prepared to start dealing with dead animals in my yard. I do know that the squirrels better start watching their backs.