What a 'Watch' DOG!

[shelly]

I came home from work yesterday and my mother in law - who lives in an apartment in our house told me that Tori had been barking on and off ALL day.  Now this was not too shocking to me, as she is the neighborhood watchdog and barks at everything and everyone that passes by. My  M-I-L thought Tori was barking at my son in the yard, but he had gone to a friend's.  When she looked out the window... she saw "IT" - the reason for Tori's intense barking!  A heron or crane was silently standing over our fish pond!   Now - Tori definitely knows the word fish and will always run to the pond to watch them when outside.... guess she was trying to protect them... Not sure how many that darn bird got, but I know it got a few... Guess her guarding instincts kicked in...wait till Tori finds out some of 'her' fish are gone!  That bird will be 'history'  - LOL

[Camilla and Darwin]

Oh my goodness, a bird eating your fish out of your fish pond? That is so scary! I am such a wimp about these things. Good thing brave Tori was there to warn him away.:-)

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

OMG... my neighbors will love this story. I may even have a picture for you.

Anyway, my neighbors have had thier Coi Pond many years so the fish are huge, old, and healthy. They even have names for each fish. There is a metal custom made sign with the names of the fish. You get my point... they LOVE the fish pond.

Someone came through the back locked gate and stole what was estimated to be $14,000 in rare fish. A police report was made and all pet stores were investigated to see if these fish were being sold.

More disappeared another month later.

YEP~~ there he was standing in the pond. A beautiful blue Herron. Good Luck. They now have a grate over the pond. They do have 5 dobermans. I should tell them to get a doodle. That will keep out thieves :)

[shelly]

LOL - I know - they stand so still that they look fake... my m-i-l said she was thinking - "I didn't know they got a statue for the pond"... NOPE we didn't - that was no statue! Scared her when he flinched!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Funny, my neighbor has had a heron and what he swears was a mink eat his fish.I think he has one left. He even installed a camera to catch the thieves in the act--he thought at first it was a person.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I'm sure the fish are very thankful for their Doodle protector!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If it was a blue heron, Tori is very brave! Jack would probably have been afraid of it!!! My old house backed to a spring-fed pond, and the herons were hanging out there all the time. They were massive!

[shelly]

Yeah.. She's brave from afar or from behind glass - LOL They are big! And they fly in what looks like slow motion!

[Kathy Spyker]

Once they know the fish are their they will be back for more!! Maybe you can set something up to scare the Heron away..Maybe like foil pie pans on a string like people do to keep birds out of gardens.

[shelly]

I was afraid of that! And we thought our doodles were smart! We're at least 10 miles from the beach on the sound or river - which is the only place that I have seen them--- in the marshes. I can't imagine looking up in the sky seeing something so big flying!

[Kim]

The heron will now come back forever. We had the same problem with our Koi pond. Get a fake Heron, and move it around once in awhile, because they are independent and won't come down if there is already one there. We did that and it solved the problem. I remember the first time I saw the Heron by the pond - I was SICK to my stomach. I went out there (our pond is small) and ALL of my fish were gone!!!!! I thought he ate them all (about 15 of them), apparently they were hiding SOMEWHERE, because they were back the next day!!!! I called my Mom crying about the Heron eating all of my fish!!!! I don't know where they found a place to hide - but they did!

[shelly]

Great ideas everyone! I was afraid he would always come back once he got a 'taste'! I did think the fish were all gone, but we did see at least 3. My DH also said they hide when they see one of their'friends' gobbled up. We do have a net over it during fall and winter months, but recently took it off. Two weeks ago one of our larger, prettier koi was dead... before my husband could get it out, it was gone the next day. Originally we thought it may have been a raccoon, but now I think it may have been the heron or crane, or whatever it was.
I felt so bad earlier tonight... Tori was just sitting on the couch with her head on the back looking out the window at her empty pond. I took pictures, I'll have to post tomorrow. AFTER we go buy a fake (SH!) heron!!!
Thanks everyone!!!

[Ali & Sonny D.]

Torri!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You make your mama proud!