To Kill A Opossum

I don't know about you but I think the opossum is just about the ugliest critter I've ever come across.  They look like huge rats with their beady eyes, long snouts, and long tails.  I get the CREEPS when I see one because they look so dirty and sneaky.  If you ever corner one, they rear back and hiss while they raise their front paws and show their long claws.  I think they could do serious damage to a small animal and I always have been afraid that my Kasey was going to corner one and get hurt in the process of killing it.

Last night, one of those creepy crawlers was slugging along our back fence when Kasey caught wind of it and bolted through her doggie door into the warm summer night.  In full hysterical wail, she let it be known that the nasty little guy better get the heck outta Dodge.  She barked frantically and that didn't motivate the stupid thing to budge.  It just made it freeze in it's tracks.  She darted around, through and between the bushes trying to figure a way she could get on top of that fence and grab it.  During that futile exercise, she was snorting and almost groaning.  She'd jump up and come within a foot of it, realize she couldn't reach it and the cycle would start again with the barking.

I opened the back slider and called her but it was pointless.  I mean she's a TERRIER.  They have ZERO sense when they are in that hunting mode.  She didn't even look back over her shoulder at me.  Hmmm...I thought for a minute...what can I try?  I ran to the frige and plucked a string cheese stick out of the meat and cheese drawer.  In normal times, the tearing of the plastic rapper will bring her bolting in from outside.  Last night, I think I could have waved the unwrapped prize in front of her face smeared with peanut butter and hunks of cooked salmon and it wouldn't have deterred her.

This called for serious measures because I live in an area where her bark carries for miles.  My conscious could not let it go on.  I put on my shoes because I knew I had to walk across the grass and if I was going to take the risk of stepping on a doggie land mine I didn't want it touching skin.  Then I went into the laundry room, opened the drawer containing her leash and pulled it out.  As I turned to head back out to the yard, here she came looking like she was almost smiling.  Tail wagging and this look on her face like, "I can't believe were going for a car ride in the middle of the night!"

Jeez!  That dog could actually hear that leash come out of the drawer in the middle of all that drama!  I laughed so hard as I clipped it on her collar.  I locked the doggie door and closed the blinds so she couldn't get out again and couldn't see it through the glass.  Then I took her in my office and let her off the leash.

She bolted for the door again and when she found that she couldn't get out, she cried, whined and yelped.  I picked her up and scratched her back and as long as I did that it distracted her but the second I stopped, she would jump down, go to the slider and the drama would start again.  Needless to say, I was getting pretty ticked off.  I wanted some sleep!!!

Finally around 3:15, I put her back on the leash and took her outside, praying that the critter had moved on.  Luckily, there was no sign of him.  Kasey scanned the yard.  She sniffed, looked, and sniffed again.  Satisfied that her territory was once again safe from the intruder, she lead me back inside.  Once off the leash, she crawled into her bed and fell asleep for the rest of the night. 

Today, each time I caught her napping, I woke her up and made her do laps.  I wanted to wear her out so maybe we could both get some sleep tonight.