Trouble in River City

Tess

See that happy face? That’s Tess showing her good self. Yesterday she showed her real bad self and mom was NOT happy.

The papers from the shelter said Tess is an Australian Shepherd like me. Tess says nobody asked her when she got picked up as a stray. She would have told them she’s got lots of border collie in her background.

Anyway, you know we live on some acres. We have goats and chickens that live together in their own space.

When Tess first saw the goats she went crazy, but now she can behave herself when she’s around them. You can see in this picture she’s giving them the stink eye, but she’s not barking.

Tess and the Goats

If you look real close at the gate you can see that it’s a little off plumb. If the people don’t get the peg just right, Tess can stick that nose of hers in between and force the gate open.

Well, somebody was careless and Tess got her chance. She pushed the gate open and in we went. I went off to inspect the goat droppings. Tess headed straight for the chickens. Nobody noticed for three or four minutes. That was plenty of time for Tess to corner a bunch of the chickens and grab a mouthful of feathers.

The chickens started screaming. Mom came running. I grabbed a couple more goat raisins while Tess kept the chickens pinned up against the fence.  Mom grabbed Tess and put her flat on the ground. She told Tess in no uncertain terms that the chickens were not her personal squeaky toys and to leave them alone.

I kinda felt sorry for Tess. She was so excited about her first taste of chicken but boy did she get in big time trouble. I quick ran back on the right side of the gate. Tess had to heel all the way back on a short leash. She was temporarily insane but quite pleased with her bad self.

Tess drank a bucket of water and crashed on the patio. Jack didn’t have a clue what happened. He slept through most of it and woke up just in time to see Tess slinking back through the gate. I told him later about Tess having taste of chicken. He laughed and said he’s glad he’s not a herding dog. Whew! That was a busy day. Anyway, gotta run.