Nemesis

Reyna has always had a strong dislike of birds, particularly the ones with the nerve to land in her yard. For some reason, though, the squirrels never bothered her. I remember watching her relax in the yard, occasionally glancing over at the fat squirrels eating at the bird feeder. She didn’t get up to run them off until a bird landed on the feeder. All of that changed four weeks ago. I don’t know what happened while she was in surgery – maybe she had a nightmare about monster squirrels – but ever since she came home, she’s been practically rabid about keeping the squirrels out of the yard.


Since Reyna is not allowed to run or jump – and certainly not allowed to tear around the yard after furry rodents – Duncan has been an excellent job of taking care of it for her. He seems to really enjoy it, although I don’t know what he’d do if he ever caught one. He’s come close a couple of times, and it helps that he doesn’t bark at them first.


The squirrels occasionally run though the fence and into my neighbor’s yard, but they usually run up the tree near the fence and hang out there for a few minutes. Thank goodness I have a little fence around the flower bed surrounding the tree – otherwise, Duncan would have destroyed the bed by now.



Once the squirrels get tired of waiting for the dogs to go away, they hop onto a nearby Leland cypress, cross the neighbor’s shed, and stroll onto the branch of the tree at the edge of the woods. While this is happening, Reyna is usually whining, pacing, snapping, staring and practically frothing at the mouth. Did I mention that she really hates these squirrels?



Reyna is so ferocious and terrifying that, about five minutes after she goes back inside, the squirrels are back at the bird feeder.