Monday, July 2, 2012

Roux and the Black Bear

We were working outside this weekend near the lake.  Roux loves that area, as there are lots of birds for him to chase.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black figure running along the lake, and I thought "there he goes again" . . . then I saw another black figure right behind that one . . . and I knew immediately one of those figures was a bear.

You can imagine my relief when I realized it was Roux chasing the bear and not the other way around.  However, that relief was short-lived . . . I quickly went into "momma mode", fearing the bear would turn around and get my dog.  He was in such hot pursuit, he couldn't hear my screams of "No!" or "Here!" or even his name.

Side note:  The Dog Whisperer says they can't "hear" you when they are in that prey mode . . . but I still think they hear just fine and choose to ignore you :)

The bear was an adolescent bear, small but larger than Roux.  Roux had absolutely no fear and, as it should be, the bear had fear.  He ran fast and Roux chased him up a tree.

It was definitely one of those "wish I had my camera" moments.  No, I haven't learned that lesson yet.

Here are some iPhone photos, which are not that good.



In the first photo, you can barely see the bear's ears between the branches.  In the second photo, the bear is climbing down the tree.  He didn't wait long . . . we walked far enough away and he quickly came down and high-tailed it back into the woods.

Later, Roux spent some time retracing the bear's path by the tree.  I think he was learning the scent . . . at least that's what he did the first time he found an armadillo.  He chased the running creature, then came back and learned the scent . . . trotting all along the ground, nose to the ground.  Now he can smell an armadillo before he sees it.