The Snake Whisperer
Several years ago a developer built new houses very close to our backyards (not so close to take away from our woods & privacy, thankfully.) Apparently they disturbed some snakes during construction, because we saw an increase in snakes around our houses.
Maggie is so inquisitive that Ginny was really concerned a snake would bite Maggie*. So she kind of freaked whenever we found a snake in either of our yards and felt that the only safe recourse was to kill the snake**.
One of the first times this happened, she tried to use a shovel to kill the snake. A round tip shovel on grass & dirt, we quickly learned, was pretty much useless.
Pierce had this bizarre contraption that was a long stick with a metal tag, kind of like a hook; this became Ginny's trick of the trade, and it's probably still in her shed.
Watching Ginny's adrenaline rush when trying to do away with a snake showed us just what she was made of; when she set her mind to something, she wasn't going to stop until she achieved her goal, be it a record on the court or the death of a snake.
Ginny gained a reputation as the neighborhood snake catcher and I can still picture her walking down the street with this 6' long stick ready to rumble with any snake who crossed her path.
*Maggie actually did get bit by a snake several years later. This time the snake was under my shed and she was determined to get to it; it won, but Maggie recovered just fine.
**We learned in later years that black snakes are good as they keep other things out of our yards.
Baby Bunnies
Terriers are hunters. They have very strong sense of smell and are a bit obsessive when they get on the trail of something. If Maggie found a turtle in the yard, everyone would know about it by her incessant barking. She's found a few living things in our yards over the years. Her adrenaline rush is similar to Ginny's when someone says "snake!"
One year Ginny came over with a bucket. Inside the bucket were the tiniest, most fragile baby bunnies ever! Maggie had tracked them to the bottom of her deck steps and Ginny knew there was no way they'd survive with Maggie around, so we re-located them to our yard until they moved on.
One Lucky Dog!
In the beginning, we would bring Maggie out into our front yards to do her business. She wouldn't roam off, would just sniff around for the perfect spot, then come right back to us.
I'll never forget one particular evening. Ginny came home from a trip. She had just gotten out of her car when I came out our front door with Maggie. I put Maggie down and she ran right over to "Mommy" like so many other nights. But then, for some reason, she took a hard left turn, ran across the street, and up on the curb (where so many other dogs do their business.) Ginny went after her.
Ginny was frantically yelling for Maggie to stop so she could catch her, but Maggie was on the hunt for something. Then Maggie darted back into the street...as a car drove by...and all I remember is Ginny's screech "MAGGIE! NO!"
Maggie is so lucky. Since she is so low to the ground, she somehow managed to scoot under the car, between it's tires, and only skinned her knees.
That was the absolute end of Maggie's free roaming. Kind of.
On rare occasions Maggie would get out of one of our fenced backyards. Fortunately, she didn't know what to do with herself and she'd come to one of our front doors ;-).
I'm sharing these stories partly because they are stories Ginny & I would reminisce about and I need to share them with others now that Ginny is gone.
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