archie the wonder dog

We have two German Shepherds. Our old girl, Tash, was our introduction to the breed and pretty well convinced us to always have GSDs. Smart, friendly but protective of the family, excellent with the kids, she is now over 12 years old and definitely slowing down, but still retains all those characteristics.

And then there's Sam. Or, as I fondly named him, Archie the Wonder Dog. He's now five and from day one was good looking but not all that bright - sort of the Zoolander of the dog world. He falls into that category of dogs called, very scientifically, complete goofs (Canis oafus). But yesterday he was quite pleased with himself, and rightly so. I ran over to the coop in response to his repeated barking. Not "people are coming" barking, not play barking. Hm. I found him staring up the back wall, trying to scale the logs to get at a red squirrel. Now, this is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill red squirrel. No, this is the crazy Ninja Squirrel who evades traps, swipes chicken food, and then dashes up the wall with a flick of his poofy little tail. Ninja Squirrel was running from side to side, trying to find a way down but stopped by Archie on all sides. This squirrel had teased Archie several times before and had become something of a nemesis to him.

After a bit, I had the bright idea to go and call D with the alert. Archie stayed there, and out came D with the .22. He lined up the shot at Ninja Squirrel, who was now half hiding behind a plank, and fired. D didn't say anything so I figured he missed - until I came around the corner to see Ninja Squirrel fall with a plop on the ground. Archie was duly praised as a Nobel-prize winning dog and got some cooked chicken for his efforts. I think he really wanted a bite of Ninja Squirrel, though.