Tucker Retrieves a Fawn
I had the dogs out yesterday afternoon for their daily roading.
All of a sudden, Tucker lifted his head up high and did his "Springer bounce" to get better scent. He had run another 10 yards and immediately swung around and backtracked and went into an alfalfa field. The alfalfa was deep enough that I couldn't see him, but I could see the alfalfa moving. Pretty soon, I heard a bleating noise (two times). I called Tucker out and when he got to the outer edge of the alfalfa, I could see that he had a very young (?day old?) fawn in his mouth. I commanded SIT.......Then had him do a Remote Drop of the fawn (remote drop is cool). I told him "Leave It" and called him out of the field.
I inspected the fawn and it was perfectly fine.
We had a similar experience with Casey when he was maybe 2 or 3 years old. Casey & my wife were walking in the woods near our house and Casey found and retrieved a fawn. I contacted a friend (wild life biologist) and he said the doe would have no problem accepting the fawn even though it smelled different. Sure enough, about a half hour later, the doe showed up -- sniffed the air and very cautiously approached the fawn. The doe licked the fawn off and they left the area, happily walking through the woods.
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