Dog’s Fog Jog Hog Shock / February 10 2008
It was very foggy at 8:am this morning when Audrey and I were jogging around the park.
About half-way around, I noticed that she was no longer following me; she had stopped to inspect something underneath one of the wild rosebushes that border the dilapidated tennis courts. She was only about 10 metres behind me along the path but I could hardly make her out in the dense mist. Ignoring my calls to hurry along, she remained immobile, seemingly fascinated by something lying on the ground. I doubled back, curious to see what she had found.
There in front of her was a small brown ball of prickly spikes. She looked at me, looked back at the ball, looked at me, wagged her tail and emitted five barks in quick succession. ‘What the **** is that!?’
‘That’s a hedgehog, Audrey – he’s just woken up from his long winter’s sleep,’ I informed her.
‘Well, what the hell do I do with it?’ she asked, bewildered.
‘Let’s leave him alone, shall we.’ I said, ‘We don’t want to disturb him.’
Placing her wet nose close to his spikes, she tried to find out more about this odd creature by utilising her powerful olfactory senses. It moved slightly and she recalled in horror, leaping about three feet into the air as if one of her clumsy paws had triggered a landmine. I was laughing so much I feared I would lose consciousness and collapse on to the soggy grass, to be stumbled upon later by a surprised mid-morning dog-walker.
Audrey’s shock and awe reminded me of the first time I saw a jellyfish on the beach at Robin Hood’s Bay when I was an inquisitive 5 year-old boy on holiday with his grandparents. I was convinced I had discovered an alien and would not leave until I was satisfied I had killed the evil monster by repeatedly stabbing at it with a piece of driftwood dutifully handed to me by my smiling grandfather.
What innocence and wonder we experience when encountering bizarre animals for the very first time. It is also significant, is it not, that while I, a human boy, felt compelled to render my discovery lifeless, my little dog merely wanted to play with hers.
Filed under Animals / Audrey / Childhood / Dogs / Memories / Wildlife
Comments
4 comments on “Dog’s Fog Jog Hog Shock”
Jo Beaufoix / February 11th, 2008 at 2:15 am
Oh bless her. I remember Jazz doing something similar when she actually managed to corner a cat. She kind of looked at me like, “Bugger. What do I do now?” Hee hee.
Napoleon Fantastic / February 11th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Audrey is exactly the same: chases cats all the time, but when she actually gets one, she has no idea what to do with it, just looks at me and wags her tail slightly. It’s the fun of the chase, you see.
Despina / February 11th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
My dog would have eaten it.
Lovely post! Do we ever get to see Audrey?
Napoleon Fantastic / February 11th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Dogs!
Thanks, Despina.
Here’s Audrey
http://www.virb.com/davylawrence/photos/629837
Toodlepip!
Leave a comment
