Tag: playing with the dog

The back door of our basement opens onto the woods, so we always have a steady stream of bug and spider visitors. Apparently the bugs have told the mice that our house is a nice place to visit. Chris and I were sitting on the couch watching TV the other night, when I saw something scurry between our not-unpacked boxes (hey, we’ve only lived in this house 6 months!). I pointed it out to Chris just as another little furry object came into view. At first we tried to keep Chester from noticing them, since I didn’t want a battle zone in our basement. But these little mice were determined to be noticed. Instead of wisely staying hidden behind a box, they persisted in leaping and bounding along our basement walls, trying out all the hiding spots we had to offer.

Eventually Chester spotted them and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He took off after the pests, but of course they were too fast and too smart for him. When he was busily sniffing behind one box, the mice were freely jumping around on the other side of the basement.

At one point, a mouse decided to sit underneath the legs of the computer chair. He must have felt invincible, because this was not a good hiding spot as he was in plain view of all of us. Chester must have got an extra good whiff of mouse, because he began hunting in earnest. We sat on the couch in breathless anticipation of a mouse’s demise as Chester came closer and closer to his prey. He sniffed close to the computer chair. He sniffed the computer chair. He sniffed the mouse’s butt. And he didn’t see it!!! How dumb can a dog be? He was sniffing halfway across the basement again, by the time the mouse decided he needed a better hiding spot.

So much for having a guard dog! We aren’t too impressed with his skills. But Leah is…

Awhile back I told you that Leah had learned to bark. She hasn’t done it in a while, but Chester is still her hero. She really likes Chester’s toys, which concerns him a lot, since he knows they are his. Recently I saw her actually playing with Chester. She would wave his toy in his face, trying to give it to him, and then flop it on the floor. He’s very careful around her, so she had plenty of time to grab it back before he could gingerly extract it from her presence.

During their little play session, I noticed Leah was acting strange. She kept bobbing her head down towards her chest as she was crawling. And it seemed like she was panting and hanging her tongue out of her mouth. I thought, “she’s trying to act like Chester!” But I doubted my own senses until Chris saw her doing the same thing a few nights later. “Look at her! She’s acting like Chester!” he exclaimed. It was so funny.

Oh, and as for the mice? No, we are not going to let them run free to provide us with evening entertainment. We’ve got some traps discreetly set, but so far no takers. Maybe, in spite of his incompetence, Chester scared them off!