Tahoe's Big Adventure

Yesterday was a big day for my dog Tahoe: he chased his first squirrel. This may not seem like a big deal for most dogs, but it was quite an accomplishment for Tahoe. Let me explain...

Tahoe is not like a normal dog, he's got issues. I don't think even the dog whisperer could help him.

Most people get theirs dogs from a breeder or a rescue shelter, Tahoe came from the woods. We found him one weekend when we had gone camping with some friends, he was super skinny and real pitiful. He was 3 months old and scared of EVERYTHING -- the crinkle of a chip bag, any sudden movement or sound, his own shadow, and particularly of people. Most of our friends in Clemson never got to touch Tahoe; he was too scared to let anyone that close. I say all of this to say that he doesn't do things like a normal dog would, so when he chased a squirrel I was shocked.

Tahoe had spent most of the morning in his new favorite spot, sitting halfway on his bed staring out the window watching for intruders (I think this makes him feel tough), when a squirrel wandered across the yard right in front of him. He went crazy running back and forth between the back door and the window, and I figured I had to let him at least try. He chased the squirrel up the closest tree in our yard (looking so very proud of this accomplishment). The crazy thing is that the squirrel got about 8 feet up, then started coming back down, with Tahoe waiting at the bottom. I really had no idea what was going to happen next, and to make matters worse I am standing on the back porch in my bath robe and towel wrapped around my head, not really dressed to chase our dog through the neighborhood. So the squirrel came back down the tree and somehow escaped the ferocious dog waiting for it and ran through the back yard and up another tree. This tree is outside of our yard, and you have to walk through a ton of briars to get to it. It is also in view of our neighbors, so at this point I decided to run throw some real clothes on.

I knew that Tahoe wasn't going to come back in now on his own, if the squirrel came down once he was ready to wait for it to come back down a second time. I had to walk out through all the briars and practically herd him back into the house. After getting him back in, I decided that he could watch squirrels from the window and save the squirrel chasing for the real tough obedient dogs, he prefers doing laundry anyways.