As a Portuguese Water Dog I’m bred to help the fisherman in Portugal pull their nets onto their fishing boats, however living in Windsor and working in Richmond (to be honest i have no idea how i arrived in either of these places) i feel a little lost. I cannot even see the sea from my Master’s house. There are lakes and rivers for me to swim in but not that many fisherman that need help pulling their nets in. I do try to help the ones with the big rods sitting on the bank. I run around them, jump into the lake hoping to aid them pulling out their catch, only to be shouted at and chased off.
So I have found myself a new job, and officially launched a new breed of dog – the Portuguese Squirrel Chaser!
Here’s my story! About three times a week I get to go for a long run through Windsor Great Park (a very beautiful place to go walking). Whilst out on my runs, I thought I would please my owner by catching him a squirrel. I know that he loves me and I felt this urge to bring him a present to say thank you.
On each run I’m presented with 3-4 opportunities to catch a squirrel. To be honest im refining my skills and until i learn to climb trees i always feel the Squirrels have the advantage, until today……….
It was about 7.30am and we had just passed Bishops Gate in the park, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a Squirrel playing in the grass. Off i went full pelt with the taste of Squirrel in my mouth. About halfway to the squirrel i made the decision to change my approach tactics (having watched the Cheetahs on BBC 1s Life last night). I crouched down and started crawling along the ground watching the Squirrel frolicking in the early morning sun! With about 3 metres between me and the Squirrel i decided to break cover and pounce. The Squirrel was looking in the other direction and my stealth like move gave me the upper hand. With just a metre between me and the squirrel he spotted me and darted for the nearest tree, which was over 10 metres away. ‘Your mine now’ i thought to myself. The squirrel tried running from left to right to avoid my snapping jaws, but he was too slow and the tree was too far away for the squirrel to find refuge. So with one final bust of energy i had the squirrel by its tail in my mouth. It was going mad struggling around and trying to scratch me but being proud of my catch i raised my head up and turned to show my master! So happy I started bounding toward him forgetting that I had a mouth full. I let my Jaw drop open and the Squirrel was gone straight up the nearest tree. By the time I have realised what was going on it was too late. Fortunately my Master had seen his present and I had half delivered on my promise to bring one to him.
Anyway better luck on Thursday!
