I Learned It From My Dog – Never Give Up

by Marcia Simon, APR

Those pesky chipmunks. Running in and out of the stone walls. They’re different than the moles and voles; those are easier to catch because they dig tunnels. I can see where the dirt mounds up to mark the tunnel. And I smell it. I smell that varmint in the tunnel. But chipmunks just hide between the rocks.

I doubt that my dog’s thought process worked quite like that, but he knew what he wanted and he knew where it was, and he had the instinctive sense that if he carefully and quietly charted his moves he’d nail that sucker.

It definitely required patience. And focus. He watched. He listened, and he sniffed out the evidence. Then he’d pounce on the tunnel and start digging furiously. Not deep, just enough to crush the tunnel, anticipating the movement of the creature below.

Darn. It got away. Fail.

More patience, deeper listening, more intense concentration. This 65-pound Siberian Husky was not going to allow himself to be outmaneuvered by a pipsqueak ground furrower.

Staked out at the entrance hole, he heard something. A tilt of the head to the right. To the left. He was silent. Listening. Watching. Taking it all in until the moment was ripe. Motion in the tunnel. Dig. Dig Dig. Faster. Digdigdigdigdigdigdig. Got it. Killed it (sorry, varmint lovers.) He didn’t eat it though. He’d just prop himself down proudly, elbows on the ground, paws out straight straddling his prize.

Next time I’m going for the chipmunk.

Moral of the story: Stay focused. Be patient. Concentrate. And never give up.