Blogging A – Z Challenge 2021: N Is For Neighbors Nibbling

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22351 – 816:

Here’s the haps:

You may recall, especially if you’ve been around here long enough, that for being a suburb we have a lot of wildlife in our area. We have been visited in our neighborhood (either on our property or on our street within a couple of blocks) at different times by foxes, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, birds including an owl and a sparrow hawk, a large variety of other birds, bobcats, a mountain lion, a family of bears, a pair of coyotes and a herd of deer. Mountain lions wind up in town because of heavy spring rains and snowmelt catching them and dragging them down a torrent that is normally a tiny stream. When they get out they are mad as a wet cat and mean. I don’t think they live in the neighborhood itself but I know the rest of the critters mentioned, do.

We also have Hey-Boy. He is what Poodle People call a Royal Standard Poodle. The American Kennel Club (AKC) only recognizes three poodle sizes but many professional breeders recognize five: Teacup, Toy, Miniature, Standard, and Royal Standard. Buyer beware, if someone tries to sell you a breed that’s not recognized by the AKC and charge you more it’s a scam. A royal standard poodle is just an oversized standard poodle. A Standard Poodle is fifteen inches high at the shoulder and up and weighs sixty pounds or more. Breeders say a Royal Standard is twenty-five or more inches high. It doesn’t matter in our case. Hey-Boy stands thirty-two inches high and weighs eighty pounds. He was purchased by my daughter several years ago to be a service dog during her fight with Lyme Disease. Poodles are hypoallergenic, which is why she picked him. Her friend that drives her around and helps her out is very allergic to animal dander but Poodles don’t shed. His “Giant” size makes him useful in a lot of other ways as well.

Like most dogs I know or have known, he wants to protect his pack and especially his mom. They are loyal and loving and exceptionally intelligent, second only to Border Collies although sometimes you might not be able to tell. One time he exploded out of the house past all of us and chased a bear down the street. Another time there were roofers across the street and he charged the front plate glass window so hard that he broke it. Thankfully he wasn’t injured but that was a three-hundred-dollar window. Because he doesn’t shed he has to be groomed and when he gets skunked (How does an animal with that huge intelligence get skunked more than once? I don’t know, either.) he has to get professionally bathed.

But when he is asleep on the job, he is asleep on the job. These neighbors love to come and take the freshly budded leaves off the crabapple trees and if they know the dog is not around they just come by and help themselves. This guy even tried to steal the car:

(I apologize for the quality of the pics but I took them with my phone through the window.)

But he didn’t fit in the driver’s seat too well:

Then he walked right up to the window to complain about the service and selection:

And while he was doing that, this guy was at the other window:

And he just reached up with his tongue and shook a bunch of birdseed into his mouth.

Then him and his posse decided to lay around in the sun and hang out, chewing the cud.

When Hey-Boy finally woke up he saw one of the deer looking in the window and started up with his deafening barking. They could hear him and all kind of got up and stood around. When I opened the door they all kind of moseyed just fast enough to stay out of his way until they got to the fence and nonchalantly jumped over.

Here is a two-and-a-half-minute clip I made 10 years ago when they were in the yard. The sound isn’t very good and the narrator isn’t too clever but this was a sight to see.