I am sufferinng the Howlelujah Chorus ! Caesar and Jake are pretty confused right now. For the whole of 2015 they have been 'on duty'. They have defended this estate from vandals,thieves,would be squatters and invading trespassers. In the middle of Devon, in one of 'the' most beautiful and protected zones in the whole of Britain with a Right of Way Public Path through the bottom of the estate. They have been busy boys.
People who walk their dogs along public paths choose not too see the signs which say 'keep your dog under control' loosing their dogs off lead, they walk through the estate with (for some) a total disregard of the wildlife. In particular the Roe Deer. Regularly, at the beginning of my coming here, there would be a couple of dogs discover the joys of chasing the Roe Deer. Right through the estate, oblivious to the animals distress, the crossing into private land or the damage to flora, and other wild life. Following in hot persuit would be an harrassed owner trying to clamber through heavy undergrowth, deep patches of brambles and various pitfalls. Shouting their pooches names in ever increasing desperation.
All they had to do...was keep their dog on a lead. My own dogs would react as would any animal 'on gaurd' and the resulting cacophany of barks and howls would continue until I could either get the trespassers off the land, or the poor Roe Deer would escape to another part of the forest not under my stewardship and peace would once more prevail for Caesar and Jake.
It took many weeks of letting people see me, hear me shouting down to them 'get your dogs on a lead this is private land' generally making myself unpopular and gaining the 'mad woman in the woods' title after one particular incident. Poor Caesar saw a woman and her dog (off lead) running down the private driveway, he went into defending Mum mode. It took a lot of strength to hold him back, he saw a dog off lead, and a complete stranger and I am in my sunday morning PJ's and wellies (yes I know what a sight I looked haha) The runner just carried on towards me, despite seeing the struggle I now had with Jake joining in the 'defend Mum' actions. In the end, it was apparent this rude miss wanted me to hold my dogs down (I was actually hugging Caesar by now to keep him with me) so she could carry on running where she wished.
In the end I reverted to a good scouse F*** Off because she was simply focussed on doing what she wanted...denying she had seen the private property signs was simply the last straw. Bright white paint with big black letters isn't easy to miss amongst all the green...anyway I am digressing...she left. But for the boys, it was a moment of high excitement and took a while for them to calm down. SO.....
New neighbours have movedin. With only two buildings on the estate they are naturally next to each other, more properly opposite and across the drive. These good people will now take the reigns...and they have four Terriers...and my boys can retire. They don't understand it, they still want to do their job as they see it. So these last two days they have been doing a lot of Danger Stranger barking through windows, excited snuffling at the doors, and I am getting weary of the sharp staccato yap yip yap from Jakes little terrier mouth...because one of the dogs is female and he is...a lover more than a fighter.
My poor lads are having a tough time readjusting, they will, in time. We will be here a couple more months now. So they will perhaps learn to stand down.
Until then, I have the Howllelujah Chorus to contend with :)
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