Go Ahead, Knock Yourself Out

[Donna P.]

Have you ever wondered when watching America’s Funniest Videos, how it is that someone has a camera ready and running to capture all that unlikely footage? Whenever anything filmworthy happens around here, there is no camera anywhere nearby, much less on and recording when the award winning action is going on.

Two cases in point:
Last week, I headed down to the barn for the morning llama feeding and chores. My two dogs, Bayley the Goldendoodle, and Mayzie the Bearded Collie always accompany me for a romp down the road and hangout in the pasture as I do my farm duties. Bayley is still a puppy,and at nine months old she is a very high energy dog. She has been enrolled in continuing education since the age of 10 weeks, and she has gotten much better about minding me on some things, but when she catches sight or the scent of a wild animal, the prey drive kicks in and a cannon would not deter her from the chase.

On this particular morning, as soon as I opened the gate to the pasture, Bayley shot off toward the back fence. There I saw two does grazing inside the pasture. When they saw Bayley barreling in their direction, one of the deer immediately jumped the back fence and was gone. The other deer started running along the length of the back fence in the direction of the corner post. Bayley was in hot pursuit.

Often seen view of deer grazing in the pasture

Now mind you, Bayley gets a great thrill from the chase, but wouldn’t know what to do if she caught something. The most amazing thing happened. I watched as the deer sped toward the side fence line expecting her to fly over, but instead, she ran headlong straight into the fence. BONK… She hit the rail head first and was knocked flat on her side.

Bayley stood back in astonishment. She didn’t know what to do. She just wanted the deer to run, and it was down for the count. Within a few seconds, the deer recovered its senses and stood up totally befuddled. She knew she needed to escape, but Bayley had her blocked in. She made a mad dash, bolting right over Bayley and ran for all she was worth toward the opposite end of the pasture. Bayley loped along behind her until the doe jumped the far fence and was gone.

Now wouldn’t you like to have gotten that on film?

The second case in point: The dogs have a favorite outside toy; a Jolly Ball on a rope. This is an 8 inch rubber ball attached to a length of rope. Bayley and Mayzie love to play tug of war with it. My husband, who will henceforth be referred to as Road Warrior (he commutes 66 miles each way on I-66 to DC) took the dogs out for their evening constitutional. Bayley grabbed the ball by the rope and started running around with it swinging her head from side to side, causing the ball to swing in an ever widening arc. The ball started whacking her on the side of the head. She’d swing her head left, and whack, the ball would hit her in the head; she’d swing her head right, and whack, the ball would hit her on the right side of her head. She did this for 8 or 10 times, and finally the ball got enough momentum that it hit her in the head hard enough to knock her down. Bamm! Flat on her side. It took a couple of seconds for her to gather her wits and get up, grab the ball and start running with it again.

Now, not only would I have loved to get this on video, I would love to have seen it with my own eyes. As it is, when I think about it, I see a video playing in my mind’s eye, and it makes me laugh. Too bad I can’t share this with the world.

A re-creation:

[Donna P.]

Thanks Nina. It's kind of like having an annoying song stuck in your head, but much more fun.

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Wow, I love your pastures.  I now have a video running in my mind of Bayley and the Jolly ball.

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

Great blog! (And the boyz wanna come live with you!)

[Donna P.]

Thanks Barbara. Do they bonk themselves in the head with the ball?

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

What a great story....  your pastures look beautiful and what a nice place for your dogs to run :)  My doodles have the exact same ball, boy to they like to play with that.  Cute pictures :)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think you are so right. I am eagerly awaiting a small computer/camera implanted in our palms so we can snap at a moments notice and Google things in a jiffy as well as check in on DK.

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

Donna, I really enjoyed this blog!  I never seem to have a camera ready when I need it either, but you did a great job of describing exactly what happened!  Your property is absolutely beautiful and Bayley is oh so cute!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Love both of these incidents.  You are right in that we never seem to have a camera ready when those 'best' moments arrive. 

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

This is a great blog....you are right, we should always have that camera/video in our hands. In my case the deer were in the yard behind me, Daisy in front, she fetched her ball and then lept into the air looking beyond me. Man I thought I hope it's nothing dangerous like a coyote or worse. When I turned it was two young deer, and they were not afraid, no fence, they just pranced along the swamp line - Daisy following. I did have to call her back and I was actually surprised she went after because she is a chicken doodle. For some reason she was intrigued. Bella was with us, she was clueless.

[Carol and Banjo]

You really made me smile with your story.    Thanks for sharing....and BTW sounds like you live a lovely life style.....feeding the llamas....and surrounded by pastures and grazing deer.......mmmmmmm!