Once upon a time...

...there was a sweet little family of squirrels.  I watched the momma lovingly build her nest of twigs and pine needles in my pine tree.  My hound, Sierra, watched too.  She watched the tree endlessly as she sat patiently below.  I thought, just maybe, she was as entertained as I was by the baby squirrels silly antics.  They were big enough now that they could come out of their nest and play... All three would play around the branches surrounding their nest.  I would lay in my hammock and stare up at them - watching them as they played with each other and chased their own tails.  A-dor-a-ble!!!  I even named them... Tiffini, TJ and Trisha!

Then... I came home from lunching with my Jessica... and Sierra met me at the gate... with baby squirrel (I think it was Tiffini) in her mouth.  She was excited and it looked dead, but not bloody or anything.  Well, I said... "Oh, no! Sierra!  Sierra!  No, No, Drop It!"  She ran to the other side of the lawn and by the time I ran to her - imagine 30 seconds or less... she swallowed that baby squirrel whole!  She does have a bit of a scratch on her eye lid so hopefully squirrel got a few licks in!  Bad Dog! 

I have to admit... I feel responsible in some ways.  We think it's funny to see her go tearing out of the house looking for squirrels...  So we taunt her with, "Sierra!  Squirrel!" quite often and laugh as she goes tearing out in the back yard looking... looking...  I think we will stop doing that now.

We've always known Sierra was special and was a tad more instinctual than other dogs we have come across - but this is ridiculous!  We are now anxiously awaiting the results of a dog consuming a squirrel whole... so far, its business as usual... we will keep you posted - and if its really exciting maybe I'll snap a picture. ;)