Incident diplomatic averted

A brief Fergus incident with a further update to follow soon!!

But first, an opportunity to say “My, hasn’t he grown!”

 

Oh, an also on our recent holiday in Spain,

he found a passion for chasing and

drinking (!!!!!) the waves on the beach.

Unfortunately, the sea water quite literally

went through him like a dose of salts!!!!

But, back now to the narrowly averted diplomatic incident.

As Fergus has grown in size, so has his speed increased and he has become braver, although some time ago, when he was still very young, in an email to my cousin I said: Fergus - cats, large dogs, horses, goats, chickens, cows, sheep, gunshots, low flying jets, people including children - no problem! But his shadow and trees that look like giants that's another story!, and indeed the latter will feature in a future story.

His speed and bravery combined have turned him into a chaser, great for exercise, although at times this habit creates something of a “one-track mind” and before you know it and he realises it, he is disappearing over the horizon, a mere blur not only because of how far away he is, but also because of the speed he is travelling at!  But, he duly pants back and sits obediently hoping for a treat!!

Well, as I believe may also be happening in the UK, as the clocks have changes so there is a definite feeling of spring in the air, although having just gone to get Fergus in from the garden, as he was barking, well it is gone 1 o’clock in the morning and the neighbours are in bed!, there was a bit of a nip in the air, so all might not be sunny days and balmy nights!  It transpired he was trying to chase the relatively new moon that is hanging in the sky, just above the fields behind our neighbouring gîte!  But with the springing out of spring everywhere, as well as the multitude of stunning wild flowers, many of which need sniffing and occasional watering, the fluttering butterflies, that require a rather half hearted chase as they flit this way and that, and there has been a proliferation of birds all seemingly intent on heralding in the better weather.  So the cuckoos are doing just that, the woodpeckers are not only pecking, but also “laughing” at Fergus, both of which need to be put in place with a wouf or two, no not woof in this case, as Fergus is being brought up bi-lingual!, and the multitude of other twitters and tweeters, of the featured variety,  if not teasing Fergus from a safe vantage point are flying around and trying to get him to chase them.  And chase them he does, along the track, over the field, through the hedge and along the other side, only just falling short, and not without the want of trying, from actually taking to the air.

On this particular day, a couple of small songbirds had already been put in their place, a blackbird stalked along both sides of a hedge and a couple of soaring buzzards were lucky his “wings” had failed him that day!  We were at this point heading up the hill, the other side of the valley from home, towards a favourite walk that skirts through the edge of a large expanse of woodland, good shelter from both the sun and the rain and ideal cover for raiding parties out into the bordering field, taking the unsuspecting birds pecking about in the mud, totally by surprise and more effective than a scarecrow, as he not only moves, but also moves effectively in their direction and at great speed.  They always make good their escape, but sometimes out of sheer bravado, not taking off until the last minute, and I’m sure a couple of days previously after some fairly heavy rain which had forced the worms to the field surface, the large flock of birds that had gathered to make the most of these rich pickings, carried out an orchestrated “let’s wind up the dog” routine, as when he chased one group a nearby group would fly up from feeding and head him off.  This happened repeated, so didn’t just seem to be a happy coincidence, but did lead to a peaceful rest of the day, as Fergus lay on his bed for several hours afterwards, with only the odd twitch, wouf or flick of a paw or two, when his dreaming turned to chasing!

Well, he was walking with me for once, perhaps hoping the hand would go to the plastic bag in the right pocket, an action and sound he can, if in the mood, hear from a good hundred metres away.  I say he was there, but suddenly without warning he was off, galloping at enormous speed over the field and heading, before I knew it, over the brow of the distant hill.  At first I couldn’t see what had triggered the chase, but then I saw them flying quickly from left to right just proud of the horizon.  I realised it was Thursday, and this was our weekly fly pass of a couple of French Airforce, MIG fighter jets on exercise!!

As luck would have it, he didn’t get them, so fortunately a diplomatic incident was narrowly averted, but not I’m sure without an initial degree of alarm and I could almost hear the hasty radio message back to base: “Je pense les anglais avez un nouveau weapon secrete,” before realising that it was in fact just a bit of harmless child’s play – well he was only five and a half months old at the time!!