CALCIUM

My old retired drug dog and huntin’ buddy, Dillon, has always been a Squirrel dog. As a youngster he was fast enough to be able to occasionally catch a Squirrel on the ground. I didn’t encourage that at all while he was a working dog, but, he’s retired now, after riding with me for eight and a half years.

Poco and Patch are also Squirrel dogs. Patch stays home while we are away, living in the barn and spends her days treeing Squirrels around the home place. They have a buddy that they infected with the Squirrel huntin’ desire, Oscar, who some folks mistake for a silly little foo foo lap dog. Here is a look at Oscar on his Spring break: OSCAR'S SPRING BREAK But they know the difference, and when high up in the Rocky Mountains, they all team up to tree the elusive Golden squirrel.

We almost never take a squirrel around our home place. Instead we feed them and try to provide their needs. The simple logic of that is that the squirrels, because of their gregarious nature, are the ones that actually train the dogs.  Currently, Betty is feeding them sunflower seeds to improve the quality of their fur coat to help them make the Winter. I usually take old deer antlers and place them where the Squirrels can access them to help with their need for Calcium.

However, the dogs are home now and Patch has enough help that the Squirrels are staying up higher in the trees away from the dogs. Consequently they are starting to work on the old antlers that are hanging up high on the front of the dog kennel.

On the back side of this left beam there is a drop tine. It must be different somehow and the Squirrels have left it alone and have been gnawing upon harder to get to parts of the antler.

The Squirrels have became less than afraid of humans and interact with them in close proximity, so it may soon be time to re instill some fear back into them. A tough love thing. This short video shows a Squirrel gnawing on an antler when I walk up, talking to him all of the time. Listen at the very start of the video and you can hear his sharp teeth rasping as he gnaws on the antler: