My Dog Caught a Deer
Pizza was picked up as a stray, so I don’t know for sure what kind of dog he is. I’ve been told that he looks just like a whippet from the neck down, including his brindel coat. After hearing this, I did a bit of research on the breed. Whippets are apparently the fastest animal of that size on the planet. They can get up to 35 mph in a few seconds. This would explain a few things as far as Pizza is concerned.
It’s tough to tire him out, he won’t even pant after you take him out on a 3 mile run. The best exercise he gets is either chasing us on mountain bikes — long fast descents down mountains — or letting him chase deer. Luckily, I sort of live in the woods, and there is a large trail network behind my house. Until recently, we would let Pizza out into the woods and if he disappeared for 30 minutes after some deer, he would always return to the back door of our house happy and exhausted — no big deal.
But, last week Pizza caught a deer! Pizza is not a large dog, he’s 45 lbs. and the adolescent deer certainly outsized him. Poor Jim was there to see this whole thing go down (I was not). It was 30 minutes or so of Pizza chasing the deer down, tackling him, biting him a bit, then the deer would run away and Pizza would chase him down again. This went on until the deer was exhausted and either gave up or tried to play dead. Eventually, Jim was able to grab Pizza and tie him up, and when he returned to check on the deer it was gone, so presumably it was ok. Bambi lives on.
We’re still reeling, and we don’t really know what to make of this. Our dog is fast enough to catch deer! I’ve only had retrievers in the past, they generally enjoy chasing squirrels but are not terribly fast, and will even back off sometimes if they have the opportunity to catch something. So, we’re still looking for ways to run Pizza and tire him out, but maybe without putting Bambi at risk — anyone know how to exercise faster breeds like Greyhounds or Whippets?
September 21st, 2005 at 8:53 am
this might take awhile, and a little coaxing…get that dog used to skateboards. use jimbo’s old Billy Gruff, find a pair of sturdy trucks, big risers, and come to richmond and pick up the sims OJ wheels i have. it’ll be quiet and smooth. hell, by the end of the week pizza will be dragging ya’ll to the downtown mall and back. that ought to wear his skinny ass out.
September 21st, 2005 at 11:30 pm
I know some folks that had a big doberman. They would take him to a local baseball field that was fenced off and he would run. He would run and run and run until they told him to stop. Then he would lie down and pant.
If you could train him to run in circles inside of an enclosed baseball field every other day, that might make him a little calmer, then he won’t eat your door.
Keep it real
September 23rd, 2005 at 9:58 am
You know, we do have a deer overpopulation problem, what with the wolves being hunted out of the region. As long as he’s not bringing the kill back to share, what’s the problem?
October 14th, 2005 at 10:56 am
What’s the problem? Deer = free meat. Venison is good stuff. Get a hunting permit and go get yourself a whole lot of free food. There are thousands of hunters in America who would give their left nut for a dog like that.
Is he nuetered? If not, you could get a lot of money for his puppies.
October 14th, 2005 at 11:42 am
Good point, although I am vegetarian. And alas, our poor chap has been neutered, it was part of the agreement through SPCA. Kind of makes me sad when I think that there will only be one of him ever in the world (sniff). Who knows, he was a stray, so maybe some of his litter mates are out there propogating.