Jack was slow eating his portion. He's usually slower than Juno, due to his tiny mouth, but this time he was exceptionally slow. That's when I noticed that he was round as a butterball. The plate of food I gave him was not enough to bloat his belly like that. Jack's a gamer, though. He stayed until he ate every crumb, licked his paper plate, and even licked Juno's long-abandoned plate.
Here's a two-month-old photo where he's fairly svelte.
When I went back inside, I asked Farmer H, "Do you think Jack's been into something? It looks like he already stuffed himself on a full meal. Usually at this time of day, he's looking thin." Let the record show that Farmer H feeds them their dry dogfood at 6:00 a.m. Sometimes they eat it. Sometimes they nibble throughout the day. Sometimes it's still in the pan the next morning.
"Huh. They killed a possum. When we went over to work on the storage containers, it wasn't there. But when we came back over, it was laying out in the gravel. I guess they had it under one of the sheds."
"Just today? They killed it while you were out there?"
"Oh, it wasn't killed today! It stunk. We didn't see what it was until later."
"Hm. I guess maybe Jack ate a whole possum, then."
You never know. He's full of life, our Jacky Boy. And possibly full of death, too! For the two previous nights, the dogs had been going crazy barking in the area of Shackytown and the chicken pen. Jack is the only one who can fit under the shacks. So I suppose he's the killer, unless it was a team effort, and he drug the spoils under there to spoil.
There are probably some bones left for the others. Jack has trouble cracking them with his tiny jaws.
Killer puppy Jack? Say it ain't so!!
ReplyDeleteCujo is always thrilled to have a carcass to gnaw on. Wall-E prefers to rub the stink on his body, he is a picky one. Oscar and Emmy enjoyed the kill, but declined the eating of the kill. So far, Eddie just likes o play with the carcasses that Martha provides. Be careful about the weight, those long spines tend to dislike carrying it around.
ReplyDeleteHM--I need to send Radar to sleep-over camp at your house. He could romp in the fields and swim in the creek and play with Juno, Jack and Copper. (The most exciting adventures he usually has involve squirrels.)
ReplyDeleteLet me know how much you charge, and how soon can I drop him off.
fishducky,
ReplyDeleteLooks can be deceiving...
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Kathy,
Right now Jack is fit as a fiddle. He's a muscular little guy. I am most worried that he will hurt his back jumping off the porch. He doesn't do it too often, but when he does I cringe. Juno is more portly, but still not to a stage where you'd call her chubby.
As Jack gets older, I can see it might become a problem. I'll have to adjust his snacks. Can't do much about the possums.
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Sioux,
Radar would love it! He'd have to get used to camping out, though. No sleeping in the house. And we don't have a sprinkler. He'd probably love POOLIO! And even know how to climb the ladder to get out.
He'd be in for a special treat with the squirrels. We have about a dozen of them that come down and eat the chicken feed. Copper is too lumbering to catch them, and Jack is too yippy. Juno doesn't even try, but the other two make loud, mad dashes at them.
There would be no charge, since Copper lives here uninvited anyway. Juno is kind of cranky, though, when her porch territory is invaded.