Things Always Change: Cookie's Hunting Adventures

Before we moved up here, we only experienced Jasmine's ranch in the Summer and early Fall. Things were pretty much the same every time. It's been great to experience the place through different seasons now, each of them with its joys and challenges.

It's been particularly interesting with Cookie, our avid hunter.


Jasmine never cared much for hunting stuff. She loved hiking and swimming, couldn't care less about chasing things.

Cookie  is the warrior hunting Rott Hound. She will hunt anything and everything.

We moved up here in the Summer. Cookie quickly realized that the place had plenty of field mice and she could spend her entire day hunting for them.

Who would have thought that a Rottweiler could be a mouser at heart.

She doesn't only hunt them, she actually does catch them too. We'll never have to worry about a rodent problem as long as Cookie is around. She was even able to catch couple of them while on leash (yes, mom tries to be fast enough on her feet).

Cookie spent the whole Summer doing this. She loved looking for them in the bushes, tall grass and under things. It was amazing watching her fly over the top of the tall weeds, so she would have a better view of what's happening on the ground. She is the flying fido.

This kept her busy day in and day out.


With the upcoming Fall, squirrels started to appear.

Not that there weren't any before, but as the Fall came, the place became lousy with them. I guess they came to gather acorns for the Winter. They became the main attraction for Cookie. I swear she will learn how to climb trees yet. She's certainly been trying.

As the snow came, so did the bunnies.

They seemed to like hanging around neighbor's swamp, where the bush is really thick and messy. Almost every day we could see some fresh tracks. Cookie thought it was great fun chasing after this new game.

On the days when the snow got crusty or the temperatures too low, I'd keep her on the leash for safety and go making my way through the messy bush, bunny-tracking.

One thing is for sure, Cookie always knows when there is something out there.


If you want to go hunting and actually find something, you gotta follow Cookie.

Moose and deer also started to frequent the place, using our paths to get around. There was the odd fox track too. Both Cookie and JD were quite upset about those.

That was the time when the risk of Cookie taking off after one of the fresh tracks was the highest. Bunnies don't run very far and like to double-back, keeping the hunt in a relatively small area. Deer and moose go the distance. Fortunately, every day we sat to dinner and were able to toast to still having two dogs.

With early Spring and no more snow, we could no longer see much of the prints.

Somehow, though, I was able to tell what track it was from Cookie's reaction. It's quite different depending what animal track she finds.


Now, thankfully, the mice have made a comeback.

This keeps Cookie very busy within very small area. And she takes her job of keeping the place rodent-free quite seriously.

A groundhog decided to make a home in one of our piles of cleared slash, which provided a huge amount of entertainment for Cookie as well.

The groundhog didn't quite appreciate Cookie tunneling toward his den, so moved out. The mouse hunt is on.

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