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Scott Linden Outdoors 
Wish I had seen this post sooner, been busy with work.
Anyway, the two dogs we had growing up were always bringing things home. Living near woods, meant the majority of them were deer related, whether it was a spine, head or leg, I had pretty much seen it all. Mom would send me out to clean up the mess, but more often than not a leg would somehow magically reappear within a couple days. Sometimes I would just let them keep them as it didn’t seem to hurt them, but when I did have to take the various body parts from them I never really had a problem. Even with them being Siberian Husky mixes of sorts, they would allow even a child (I may have barely been a teenager) take most anything from them, even hot dogs.. (guess I somehow convinced them that I was boss at a young age 🙂 ) The weirdest thing that they ever brought home was a beaver tail. At first I was rather baffled at the brown thing I saw them chewing.. I walked up to them and after further inspection came to the conclusion that it HAD to be a beaver tail. It may seem odd that they would come across such a trophy, but we did have a lake within walking distance that I knew for a fact had beavers. Who knows what happened to the rest of the carcass, but I’m happy all they brought back was the tail, seemed totally harmless, but I picked it up anyhow as I didn’t think mom would have the same appreciation for their trophy.
The mountain men thought beaver tail was the best part of that critter! That is a new one on me. When the new pup comes, I will work on taking hot dogs from him … we’ll see who wins!
Now Scott, you gotta go in with a can do attitude about taking that hot dog from the puppy.. just keep in mind “that’s my hot dog, not his… my hot dog..” if he shows signs of wanting to claim it, use your body. Get a leg or foot between it and you.. not in a kick or anything, but to block.. That’s what dogs do, they walk over and claim with their body, they get in another dogs space to get a message across.. and if you go in with the picture in your mind of you taking that hot dog, and are confident in it, he will pick up on that too. also you can have a rope/leash on him so you can control him. This will set you up well right away.
As far as the mountain men thinking the beaver tail was a delicacy, can’t say I would agree.. It was neat to look at for sure.. But I can’t see it being very good. Dogs didn’t really mess with it much even, I think they just liked the idea of bringing it back.
The whole body language thing is fascinating to me … it is so true. I’ll watch our two dogs interact and they’ve got it down to a science. And you’re right – no hitting required, but a judicious body check/shove (gentle gets the point across) works wonders. Great insight!
[…] Linden Outdoors is not enjoying the stuff his dog is dragging home. Leave a good story there and you might win a Cabela’s gift […]
My story isn’t particulary disgusting, just funny. Dogs were barking out back in the yard at 0 dark 30. I was getting to see what was going on when the came back in. I could just barely see them in the glow of the alarm clock light. It looked like the English setter had something in his mouth. Instead of doing the smart thing and turning alight on first, I just reach out to see if I was right. Of course I was ands he did have something in his mouth. Now a dead rabbit is a good retrieve but it still a shock to touch a warm soggy dead bunny in the bedroom at 0300. Next time I’ll turn the light on first!
That is probably the genesis of the old joke … I’ll tell it some time. Lesson: turn the light on first. Thanks for the story.
The worst thing was my buddy’s dog that was chewing on an armadillo tail all weekend. I was out at his place scouting and one of his dogs showed up with it. We never could get it away from him.
My 2 little yard rats (jack russels) are always killing various varmints that show up in our back yard: mice, possums, bunnies, birds, snakes.
But still, the armadillo tail was the worst.
Wonder what he did with the rest of it before you saw him with the tail.
I totally forgot about this. My wife was working in her flower beds one sunny afternoon day. As she was digging to plant some new stuff, she unearthed a bunny head that one of the dogs had planted before she got there. Not sure how long it had been there.
Ummm good. Aged to perfection.
When I was growing up, we had alot of woods surrounding us. Usually it was the cat’s that were bringing stuff home…but one hot day I went outside and smelled a really strong stench…couldn’t figure out where it was coming from…the more i looked around I found our dog, laying in the flower bed chewing on a rotten,stinky, skunk head! GAG!!!!
If she wanted a chew toy I could have gotten her one! GROSSSSSS!!!
But she wanted THAT chew toy. You were better off with that end than the other! Does your dog have a distinctive “skunk point?” Buddy does, and I almost always recognize it in time.