scaredy-squirrel

Simba's done such a good job of psyching out all the squirrels in the neighborhood; they're terrified of him. When we were away a lot over the holidays, the yard started to swarm with them, but within a week of our return, we were back to just one or two at a time. He's the most effective squirrel deterrent I've seen, short of going through the routine I went through one pre-Simba year, using a hav-a-hart trap to collect over twenty of them and take them to a nearby mountainside to release them.

In the process, I learned how very not smart chipmunks are. I love my chipmunks, but they kept getting in the trap to eat the seeds, getting caught, freaking out, being released, and then going right back in there. Doh.

You've got to give the squirrels some credit, though. It doesn't worry them to see Simba sitting by the back door watching them. What gives them the heebie-jeebies is when they see me moving around inside. That's when there's a chance the door will come flying open and the dog will come flying out, and they're smart enough to have figured that out!

This big fat grey took off for the tree when I hove into view, even though Simba was nowhere in sight. Then she cautiously watched me as I left to get my camera and came back. I snapped lots of shots of her in various poses as she cocked her head, twitched her tail, and generally kept an anxious eye on me. Eventually she headed up the tree and away, but it was really fun to get to see her "closeup," courtesy of the zoom lens on the camera!