Outdoors - New experiences

   My older son, Walter, came for a visit over the last couple of weeks. He brought his one dog, Hank with him to keep him company on the trip from Houston. Hank, like Billie, is a standard poodle. Unlike Billie, he has spent his life in the city. At home, Walter takes Hank for daily walks in the park where it is required dogs be on a leash or to the dog park where there is limited amount of space to run. Coming to the wide open spaces of the farm in Iowa was quite an adjustment for Hank.

   At first, he was hesitant to get too far away from his master and was not sure about being off leash. Hank and Billie soon became best friends and Billie showed him the joys of running at top speed across the yard, hay field, and pastures. Neither dog would get out of sight, but they could cover a lot of ground as they raced around and wrestled. There are smells to be smelled and squirrels that need to be chased. Hank is having the time of his life and Billie is enjoying having a new playmate.

   One morning, from the office window, I watched as the two dogs wrestled and played chase. It started to snow, the great big fluffy snowflakes. When Hank noticed, he stopped and looked up into the sky. I could see he was confused by the white stuff falling out of the sky. Then, like a little kid, he stuck out his tongue and started catching snowflakes on his tongue. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him chasing snowflakes.

   Walter maintained his routine of taking Hank on his daily walks. Naturally, Billie got to go along and has become quite accustomed to the routine. For him, it is much more fun to have Walter and Hank along and going for a walk than playing in the yard by himself. One day, while coming across the dam toward the house, the dogs spooked a rabbit out of the tall grass next to the path. He made the mistake of running straight down the open path where he could be seen by the dogs. When they spotted the rabbit, they were off like a couple of greyhounds. Unlike the racing greyhounds that never have the opportunity to catch the rabbit, the poodles ran down and caught this one. This was a life changing experience for Hank. He feels he has reached his full potential. Being bred as a hunting dog but having never hunted left a void in Hank’s life. Until this time, he did not realize what the void was. Going for a walk now has a whole new meaning. He is no longer walking for exercise, he is hunting.

   Since that fateful day of the rabbit, Hank has caught a mole and put a good chase on several squirrels. He has become quite the hunter and between the two of them, nothing on the farm is safe. When Walter needs to go back to Houston, there are going to be two dogs that are going to miss each other and their daily hunts. There have been many new experiences for both the city dog and the country dog.