A dog's duty at The Deer Diner

Woody and Cyrus think that it is their sworn duty to clean up any messes on the property, even though it isn't our property.

The Husband recently started walking Cyrus off the leash for the driveway part of his morning walks. He can do this now that the chickens are safe behind the fence, or still in the coop. Husband reports they are doing very well.

When we first got Woody, I would let him wander freely while I walked Sophie, who was deaf at the time, on the leash. He had days where he would stray for hours, but he always managed to come back. Twice he came back a bit bloody from minor injuries, but he always came back.

I would have liked to keep training Woody to be off the leash, but when we got Cyrus, there just wasn't an easy way for me to walk them both. Since then, I have walked them separately, both on the leash.

But now that the chickens are safe from Cyrus the chicken killer; and now that the ground is snow-covered and usually slippery and icy under the snow; and now that it is more and more difficult to convince myself to walk the boys in the icy, snowy, freezing, often windy conditions—I have started letting them out together for a romp in the back 40.

It went well for a day or 2, until Woody discovered a dead doe under the snow on the neighboring property. Since then, the 2 of them hustle back there happy as can be, and set about dismantling the poor deer. This photo is of the deer deposit spot, about 50 feet from where she was found. Other bits were carried by my favorite hound dog and carefully stashed back by the house.

Luckily, there is not much left of her, although I suspect when the snow melts, there will be more to find.

Oh my.