Post by Lannie on May 15, 2009 10:10:04 GMT -5
It was beautiful yesterday, and wasn't supposed to get too cold last night, and Cowboy had been very good all day about NOT barking at or chasing the horses, and the horses have figured out that his bark is harmless and are now ignoring him. So is Bandit. ;D
So we decided not to lock him up in the garage last night, and just let him do his thing. Argh...
He did his thing all right, until 1:30 this morning. I got up at 4:30 so I'm a bit bleary, having only had 3 hours of sleep.
I was really proud of him, though. The sun was down and I was in the kitchen getting dinner on the table and Rich was sitting outside the back door saying goodnight to Cowboy, when all of a sudden, Cowboy's ears pricked up and he took off full tilt toward the pasture. He went through the pasture gate and straight across to the east fence (that's where the foxes come through), barking like a maniac. Up and down the fenceline he went, barking, barking, barking. Rich went out as far as the pasture gate and watched, but never saw anything because it was too dark. But I'm pretty sure the foxes had decided to come prowl our pasture again. They probably do this every night, but the chickens are locked up at sunset, so they haven't gotten any. And now they WON'T!
Anyway, I suppose it's possible that this place just crawls with predators at night (foxes, raccoons, skunks, etc.), and that's what caused all the running and barking until the wee hours, but maybe Cowboy just had his guard up because of the foxes just after sundown, and decided he needed to make SURE they wouldn't come back. I don't know. But I hope the foxes stay away now, because I really need to get some sleep! LOL! It wasn't so bad when he was out in the yard and pasture, but he kept coming back and laying in the driveway between the house and garage, so when he jumped up barking each time, it was right outside the bedroom window. Just as I'd be drifting off... ROWF ROWF ROWF ROWF!
Maybe I'll take some valerian before bed tonight.
~Lannie
P.S. Lest anyone think I'm complaining about the barking, I'm not. This is exactly what we need! I just have to figure out how to sleep through it! LOL!
So we decided not to lock him up in the garage last night, and just let him do his thing. Argh...
He did his thing all right, until 1:30 this morning. I got up at 4:30 so I'm a bit bleary, having only had 3 hours of sleep.
I was really proud of him, though. The sun was down and I was in the kitchen getting dinner on the table and Rich was sitting outside the back door saying goodnight to Cowboy, when all of a sudden, Cowboy's ears pricked up and he took off full tilt toward the pasture. He went through the pasture gate and straight across to the east fence (that's where the foxes come through), barking like a maniac. Up and down the fenceline he went, barking, barking, barking. Rich went out as far as the pasture gate and watched, but never saw anything because it was too dark. But I'm pretty sure the foxes had decided to come prowl our pasture again. They probably do this every night, but the chickens are locked up at sunset, so they haven't gotten any. And now they WON'T!
Anyway, I suppose it's possible that this place just crawls with predators at night (foxes, raccoons, skunks, etc.), and that's what caused all the running and barking until the wee hours, but maybe Cowboy just had his guard up because of the foxes just after sundown, and decided he needed to make SURE they wouldn't come back. I don't know. But I hope the foxes stay away now, because I really need to get some sleep! LOL! It wasn't so bad when he was out in the yard and pasture, but he kept coming back and laying in the driveway between the house and garage, so when he jumped up barking each time, it was right outside the bedroom window. Just as I'd be drifting off... ROWF ROWF ROWF ROWF!
Maybe I'll take some valerian before bed tonight.
~Lannie
P.S. Lest anyone think I'm complaining about the barking, I'm not. This is exactly what we need! I just have to figure out how to sleep through it! LOL!