Mr. Turtle, will you be my friend...

Ashley and John are traveling so I am grand-dog sitting.  First day, Zachry drags up a turtle... he was so cute!  He was looking face to face as if to say...

Will you be my friend?

I had opened the breezeway door to let him back in when I noticed this tortoise on the rug, I assume he brought it home to show me!

Poor turtle is topsy-turvy!

Zac very gently turned it over...

...and slid it off the rug with his paw. 

It slid much easier on the concrete to play with,

...that's when he got face to face!

He ended up laying down and let "Baby" look at his prize.

She looked at him as if to say "what's the big deal?"

Of course Baby is 132 years old now, so not much interest in playing with a turtle now days; but she used to surf on them!  She would put both front feet on them and slide them around, but that was back in her younger days!  After a short time of looking at Mr. Turtle, she ended up just walking away, so...

Zac went over and laid down by it...

...pretty soon he took his paw and slid it close to him!

He nudged it in a little closer...

...and then decided it was time to rest with his new best friend!

Zachry is such a sweet, good mannered dog and he is always finding something when he goes scavenging around our property.  One day he found a small single deer antler.  He ended up taking it home with him and he literally chewed it to a nub... Mom took it away because it had gotten too small.

When he visits with us, he is always finding a frog to play with or he will chase the rabbits and squirrels every chance he gets.  He loves to go charging around the corner of the house at the bird feeder hoping to find a bird that might be ground feeding.  Of course, I'm calling "Zac come!" when he charges towards the feeder... and most of the time he puts his brakes on.

I recall a funny story about him... one day while Dennis and I were working in the front yard,  Zac and Logan (a second dog) were both staying with us.  We were working on clearing some weeds at the corner of our property when we saw the neighbors chickens.  They are not usually out, so I'm not sure why they were out then, but they were.  

We were watching the dogs look at them and had told them both to "leave it" and told them to lay down.  They did lay down and we continued to work, but the chickens continued to walk towards us probably getting within 15 feet away.  Zac and Logan were both ready to pounce at any moment, but we continued to tell them to "leave it".  It was just a matter of time before their curiosity got the best of them and it was just too irresistible... Zac bolted with Logan following right behind on a dead-run, both of them chasing after the chickens.

Obviously, we immediately told them to "come"!  Logan came to a screeching halt and returned at once, but Zac continued at a full sprint with one white chicken particularly in his sight... but, watching him was hilarious because he had a red rooster chasing after him right on his heels!  He chased that chicken almost all the way across the neighbor's acreage and he was running fast!  I'm thinking, "Oh no, we're getting ready to by the neighbors another chicken!"

Those chickens were really fast and they did almost make it to their pen, when Zac finally stopped chasing them and returned to us.  Thank goodness, but it WAS funny to watch.  Needless to say he was reprimanded.  That is one of those things just like with your kids, that you scold them and then can't help but laugh when you turn away.  I was surprised that they chased the chickens because the same neighbor has ducks in his pond and we have told them to "leave it" and they have never even attempted to chase his ducks.   

Zac is a great dog and fun to have around.  His new found friend, Mr. Turtle, does not give him such a chase.  Hmmm, I wonder if Mom will let him take his turtle home?

More Turtles... here is a link to another story by Ashley.