Driving Me Crazy

Boji, I love you but you are driving me crazy!

Boji is quite the old farm dog. He is my buddy out in the barn. My right hand man dog. Although not your typical breed of farm dog (Australian Shepard, Corgi, Healer), he has always been excellent around the horses. We have long conversations while I muck stalls. He patiently waits for me to go dump my wheel barrow knowing as soon as I stop to open the gate I will throw his ball for him. He doesn't eat horse poop. I can't say the same for hoof trimmings.

He leaves Chicky alone even though he is a pheasant hunting machine.

He is an excellent farm hound. 

The best!

But lately when I head down to the barn, I want to ring his neck. 

I can barely get the barn door open at chore time before he practically knocks me over to rush into the barn. He heads straight for the tack room and shop in hopes of catching one of our new tenants by surprise. 

He enters the tack room erratically, sniffing the floor extensively, only pausing for a brief moment to listen intently before neurotically searching every square inch again.

He will then rush back into the barn, glaring at the wall like he has ex-ray vision and can SEE what's living beneath. Taunting him.

Hmmm I need to do a little spring cleaning in the barn now that I am looking at these pictures. 

 

Boji's behavior has been the topic of conversation every night for the last week. What exactly is living under the tack room/shop floor driving Boji crazy - thus making me crazy?

We have had rabbits living under the tack room/shop floor for several years. Handy Man's guess is there are baby bunnies under there running around. It is spring after all - I guess. Unless I am getting Boji is getting senile in his old age, I can't remember him acting this crazy over baby bunnies, ever. 

Handy Man's second guess was a cat.

He knows nothing!

I want to put my money on something worse. 

What if it's a skunk? Having her babies under the floor. What if Boji makes her angry and she sprays him? What if I come in to feed one morning and she sprays me? Can babies spray? What if our Brown Eyed Girl get's sprayed? Oh, that would be terrible. But it doesn't "smell" like a skunk is hanging around.

I am pretty sure it's not a raccoon. Raccoons are cute in photos, but they are hideous creatures on a farm - especially if you have chickens. They are chicken murderers. If it was a raccoon, I am pretty confident Chicky would have already disappeared.

What's left?

A porcupine... I am not sure which is worse: Porcupine Quills or Skunk Spray.

Only one way to find out. I made Handy Man set a live trap before going to bed.

In the morning...

We had nothing. 

Maybe it is baby bunnies. 

Whatever it is, now Boji really wants to find them. 

I caught him digging this morning. 

This dog NEVER digs.

Boji...

I tell you what hound dog, you better knock it off. 

You. Are. Driving. Me. Crazy.