Dizzy Dillon

Playing dead

Well, the mad hunter strikes again! Dillon added a new kill to his collection, this time a baby possum.  Apparently, this is the same possum that tight-roped along our fence line at 2:00 am a few nights ago.  We arrived home late that night after a reunion with old friends.  Dillon was going nuts trying to jump up to the top of the fence to catch the little critter.  I figured he probably wouldn't see him again since it's very rare for Dillon to be out that late at night.  Somehow, he found the little critter last night around 10:30 and the rest is history.  We finally tricked Dillon into coming in last night and leaving behind his yard-kill.  Gage lured him in with some food. Tina's idea was to dangle the leash and try to lure him in that way, but my astute son pointed out, "Dillon's whole existence is centered around finding his prey, so why would he run to the leash which would enable him to go after the prey he already has?" (Well, that's a bit of a paraphrase)

Self-help

Today Dillon dug out of the yard. So what else is new? He has done this so many times that I no longer frantically run out the door with the leash to find him.  I just calmly take a couple looks down both ends of the street and if I don't see him I get in the car and cruise around until I find him.  I even know where to look for him because he predictably ends up in the same places. Often it's the yard at the house across the street, and sometimes it's the backyard of a house 5 or 6 houses down behind the maple tree in the far right corner of the yard.  Their gate is always open so I usually sneak in to their yard and quietly escort my JRT back home.   I've never seen anyone at home, so I have wondered if anyone even live there as they don't keep their yard up.  Today, I heard small children laughing so I thought it best not to go back there.  I thought that might be a little suspicious.  As I started driving back home my eye caught a white streak at the north end of the block.  I drove carefully up the road until I witnessed one of Dillon's most random moments.  There he was walking up the sidewalk perfectly in step with a lady who was walking her two small dogs.  I actually thought she had him on a leash. I figured she found him and hooked him up and was taking him with her until she could get to a phone to call the phone number on his tags.  No, instead it was Dillon helping himself to a dog walk on a crisp but sunny afternoon.  I am still bewildered as to why he seemed so tame walking with strange dogs without attacking them like he does when he's on a leash held by this owner.  Hmm. Maybe Cesar Milan is right. It's not the dog who needs trained, it's the owner.

Dillon (Gage's perspective)

(the following is an essay written by Gage Wren about our little friend)

 

    I feel a rush of air fly past my feet. I look down just in time to catch a glance of a
small flash of white zooming past me. The small mass of energy halts briefly to pound
his small, clawed paws on the white door. This little, yet masculine, being is my Jack-
Russell Terrier.
   
    This hunter of, specifically, rodents runs and sniffs through my backyard with
intent in his mind and in his eyes. Anything that creeps may be a victim to his small jaw,
full of razor like teeth. Often I have found dead ferrets and frogs on our back porch. The
only thing that ceases this dog’s natural instinct to attack are humans. His behavior
around them greatly contrasts with that of animals. He has been bred to serve his
master in the hunt with ferocious power. Yet, he is also trained to treat his master with
hospitality and warmth rather than hostility. Although his size make him appear as weak,
his long hours scavenging through the trees and bushes creates lean muscle throughout him that is surprisingly powerful. Although he is being gentle, when he jumps on his hind legs to place his front two paws on you, you truly feel the power hidden in his compact body.
    When he is not scouting his territory for a something to kill, he may be found lounging around in, sometimes, very peculiar places of our house. Whether it be in his small bed-which he has teared to pieces due to boredom-or on a chair in a dark room or on a pile of recently cleaned clothes. He spends his time resting either from his work or to prepare himself for the work ahead. His short hair is like that of a piece of paper: coarse when examined diligently, yet smooth when felt as a whole. One strand of his fur is thick and almost sharp. Many of these stands detach themselves from his body and
fall on either the ground or whatever he is near. His back often needs scratching from all
these stray hairs. He tends to lie on his back and twist back in forth, as if he’s break
dancing, to scratch his back. When he opens his mouth to breath, he appears to be
smiling. His “grin” reaches back to his ears and he seems a happy dog. Though, this
grin of his quickly disappears when a sound is made by any creature lurking close to
him or his territory. After that, he returns to his concentrated purpose to exterminate
whatever gets in his way (as long as it isn’t a person).
    While he is full of energy and hastiness, he is getting old and more weary.
Although, I believe he will be using the last of his energy in his life to chase a squirrel or
sniff in the ground for a mole. Or even trying to dig under our fence to find new
adventures, as he often does. And one day, he will be part of the ground that he roams
and battles upon.

The pain reliever most dogs use

A while back Tina had filled a ziplock snack baggie with Tums and Tylenol for a trip to Austin.  This morning I found the chewed up baggie with about 5 tylenols in it.  So, it appears Dillon overdosed on a Antacid-Acetaminophin cocktail.  The evidence was found on the floor outside his little room, so it had to be at least 10 hours ago.  I don't know how many of these pills he ate and not sure how he got a hold of them.  I thought I threw them away a few weeks ago when I cleaned the bedroom.  (the tylenol was making my tums taste weird).  When I let him out this morning, he was his usually perky self and doesn't seem to show any adverse effects.  Well, what could one expect from a dog who once ate a tin can of ant poison!

Varmint without an ID

We think this is a ferret, but it could be a possum.  I'm not sure.  I was afraid at first if this was a possum that he could be playing dead, but that thought quickly faded as I noticed his intestines hanging out.  Any possum that could play dead in this manner deserves all our respect and we should do everything to preserve their species.  By the way, I've cropped the guts out of the pic.  If you would like the "director's cut" send me an email and I'll shoot it over.  ; )

If this indeed a ferret, this would make #4 for Dizzy Dillon.  Those ferret farmers that live behind us really need to reign these guys in. 

Toad be or frog to be

I was watching Dillon from my patio while grilling out a few weeks ago and noticed that he was chomping down on something.  It looked like a piece of meat from the grill, but I knew that wasn't it because I had just fired the grill up.  As I moved closer, I was stunned to see two helpless frog (or toad) legs hanging out of his mouth.  I didn't know if eating frogs were safe for a dog, so I shooed him away as a piece of frog torso fell from his mouth.  After a phone call with the vet, they assured me that it shouldn't harm him.  I didn't have my camera handy, otherwise there would be photos posted.  Since there wasn't much left of the frog, I guess it is just as well. 

Snake in the grass

Dillon caught a snake while we were grilling. Good dog!

Routine

Because of Dillon's history of digging out, his routine was totally messed up because we would let him in the house too soon.  He started messes in the house if you know what I mean.  So, we had to keep him in his room during the daytime while we're out instead of letting him roam the house freely.  I felt better when someone assured us that his room is his security and it is not cruel to keep him in there.  If you are wondering, his room is connected to Gage's room.  It's like a bathroom without a toilet. It's not small as he has lots of room to sleep gnaw on bones, and walk around.  Since we put him on this routine, his behavior has improved.  As soon as we let him out of his room, he goes straight outside and to eat and to take care of biz.  He hasn't dug out in a couple weeks and I think it's because our neighbors behind us have some new dogs, so Dilly is to wrapped up chasing them along the fenceline.  But I doubt seriously that his digging out to chase whatever has come to an end. 

Defending the turf

As I stood on our roof this afternoon with an inspector from the roofing company, I noticed the dog from across the street escaped from his yard with his de-anchored chain in-tow and wandered into our front yard where I chained Dillon.  The roofer warned me to make my way down the ladder and attend to my pup since the intruding dog is a pit-bull.  With a minor hesitation, I calmly yelled out to our neighbor to come and retrieve their pet, but it was more for their mutt's protection than mine.  Dillon, though disadvantaged with a chain and smaller stature, defended his turf without an ounce of fear as the intruder circled around in a weak attempt to assess the situation.  The dog's owner took him home and Dillon stood his ground.  Pit Bull?? He might as well have been Red Bull.

Battle Scars

  I witnessed the craziest thing I've ever seen since I've had this dizzy dog.  He sat at the back door and whined to go outside, so I let him out.  He immediately took off into the backyard where I saw a squirrel just sitting in the middle of the yard.  He bolted towards the squirrel and chased the squirrel into a little u-turn and toward the tree. 
Then Dillon actually caught the squirrel and for about a second had the varmint in his mouth!! The next thing I saw was the squirrel pull a houdini and escape from Dillon's mouth and up the tree!  Mind you this happened in a flash!  I didn't realize until about a half an hour later when we let him in that Dillon had this awful looking gash on his foot!  This picture doesn't really do it justice. We scoured the internet to find out how to treat it.  After mixed reviews, we sprayed some peroxide on it and tried to wrap in gauze.  This was a bad idea though as he began to nibble at the bandage.  After I took it off, it started dripping blood on the carpet!  Ugh!  Anyway, he just started licking his wound which is probably the best thing.  Looking at the wound, if this was a human, he would probably get a few stitches.  I hope we are taking the best course of action by letting it be.  We will monitor it for a few days.