Open swimming at the pond has been slapped shut by a couple of beaver tails.
And I'm lucky that my dog Jerry wasn't seriously injured or worse.
The pond on the 80 acres across the road has been low for the past several years, leaving the entrance to the beaver lodge high and dry and the structure uninhabited. After this year's snowy winter and rainy spring, the swelled pond called to more critters than swimming dogs. The exiled beavers returned.
My dog Watch wasn't a swimmer, so I'd never been to the pond when the beaver lodge was occupied. A few days ago I watched the top of a bony brown head skim through the water, followed by a ker-thunk of the surface. Jerry swam out to see what was causing the commotion, navigating the 350-yard circumference of the pond. I was thrilled to find an activity to burn up the Weimaraner's boundless energy. I took Jerry for two and three swims a day.
Sometimes the dog and the beaver would swim straight at each other, other times Jerry followed the beaver. When it dove underwater, Jerry would swim to where the beaver disappeared. I watched with uneasy fascination. The action resembled this video. You can't help but hold your breath when you watch it.
Real beavers don't resemble this video. They're not benign, befuddled critters who chatter away with a lateral S. A real beaver is a three-foot-long rodent with nonstop-growing teeth. Beavers have disemboweled or killed dogs in defense of their home or their young, I learned with a Google. Thus, open swim sessions are now closed.
With a territorial porcupine to the west, a bear's den to the north, and beavers to the south, the eighty acres across the road is shrinking.
But since beavers mate for life, who's to deny them their lifelong contentment.
And I'm lucky that my dog Jerry wasn't seriously injured or worse.
The pond on the 80 acres across the road has been low for the past several years, leaving the entrance to the beaver lodge high and dry and the structure uninhabited. After this year's snowy winter and rainy spring, the swelled pond called to more critters than swimming dogs. The exiled beavers returned.
Real beavers don't resemble this video. They're not benign, befuddled critters who chatter away with a lateral S. A real beaver is a three-foot-long rodent with nonstop-growing teeth. Beavers have disemboweled or killed dogs in defense of their home or their young, I learned with a Google. Thus, open swim sessions are now closed.
With a territorial porcupine to the west, a bear's den to the north, and beavers to the south, the eighty acres across the road is shrinking.
But since beavers mate for life, who's to deny them their lifelong contentment.
Media sources: photo from The Wilderness Classroom, film clips from loubagel1982's and CalypsoDogs' YouTube channels.
Related Posts:
With the temps scheduled to zoom back to the nineties, I was thinking of taking Jerry for a very quick swim this weekend. This heartbreaking account has closed thoughts of returning to the pond for good.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=484221