The Dumb Dog
Remember those fables and stories about the clever fox that were read to you as a child? Well they are all based on fact.
A few years ago the male members of our family were out on the kitchen porch enjoying a cool twilight breeze after a hot summer day. Suddenly Anthony whispered,
"Don't move. There's a fox between Matt's truck and the car"
Michael quietly called the rest of us to join them. We were all startled to see a red fox, frozen in place with his head turned our way in surprise. It seemed to me that he he was thinking,
"I can hardly believe this! What are you doing out here? You're infringing on my territory, my time."
Turning, he started to leisurely trot across our backyard into some bushes between the corral and the barn, did a u-turn, ran up the hill to double doors of the barn, made another u-turn and then ran down the hill into the corn. Meanwhile our dog was running circles around the garage with his nose right to the ground following the scent the fox had laid to distract him.
Frustrated, by his gullible dog, Dad pointed and yelled,
"Shadow, the fox ran over there."
Shadow looked up, tore across the yard, dove into the bushes near the corral, did a u-turn, ran up the hill to the barn doors and down again, then raced after the fox. Of course the fox was long gone.
If this dog had used his eyes instead of his nose, he would have headed straight into the corn.That clever fox hadn't even been frightened nor in a terrible hurry as he laid his scent down because he knew exactly how to fool a dog. We just witnessed a reenactment of The Foxy Fox and The Dumb Dog.
