We've just met a badger
My small pack of dogs and me!
Late back from the Community Council meeting, I collected the four of them from the kitchen sofa and out into a blustery lane we went
As we stopped in the dark by the corner, the pigs grunted loudly and rather aggressively and out of the hedge, frightened by no 21's bad tempered tendencies no doubt, tumbled a large, slightly obese badger.
The badger struggled to its feet, not fifteen feet away and let out a funny sort of snort.
William, Meg and George stood stiffly like Ben Hur's chariot horses and didn't move a muscle as the badger cantered into the horse field
Mabel,however, shat herself....... she "woofed" once, pulled her lead from my hand and galloped the 100 years for home like a racehorse
She is presently sat at my feet, still shakingWhat a pussy
Oh poor Mabel that must have been quite a scare to her.
ReplyDeleteAaah, Mabel, that's exactly how I felt when I met my first skunk.
ReplyDeleteJane x
Poor little girl. Now she'll be afraid to go out in the dark.
ReplyDeleteI had a big old chocolate lab who wouldn`t go outside if there was a toad or a snail on the patio....
ReplyDeletePoor sweet Mabel. A good heart, but not a brave heart. Poor sweetie.
Wise Mabel.
ReplyDeleteOh dear Mabel! At least you know she can gallop! I'm glad the terriers didn't go after the badger! Good dogs!
ReplyDeleteshe moved like shit off a shovel
ReplyDeleteLol. Poor Mabel.
ReplyDeleteSleep well, all. ♥
I 'spect it's her first encounter, or maybe not !
ReplyDelete~Jo
Good idea to get away from that badger, Mabel! They can be quite nasty! Nothing like a little cardio action in the evening!
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for the badger. Going about his customary nocturnal activities and then suddenly confronted by a wild-eyed and bearded poultry farmer with a pack of slavering hounds. The poor thing!
ReplyDeleteI can top that. Our dog, Socks, is a Scottie. They are supposedly genetically bred from birth to hunt rats.
ReplyDeleteWe had a mouse last year. Socks was TERRIFIED of it. He sat and stared and then carefully backed away.
I told him that he was disappointing his ancestors. He pretended not to understand me. Dogs do that. They understand everything but will look at you as if they are bewildered if they don't like what you say.
Mabel is one smart cookie.
ReplyDeleteMable may possible have been the smartest one in the group!
ReplyDelete;-)
I'm so impressed by your dedication to getting your dogs out for frequent walks. That's one of the disadvantages of having a large, fenced in backyard. I don't feel like I "have" to take my dogs for a walk, so I often don't...
what a little love Mabel is, she's just a delicate little flower that's what she is....
ReplyDeleteGill
I think Mabel was very wise, there is good sense in retreat sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThat is hilarious! Go, Mabel, go! And the terriers standing stock still... what a scene!
ReplyDeleteMabel must be a city girl, and a pretty smart girl at that. I wouldn't want to make friends with a badger either. I think I would be right behind her. Hope she is over her fright.
ReplyDeletePoor badger, meeting up with you lot in the dark of night. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt must have made a change for you to be fully dressed!
ReplyDeletePoor sweet Mabel! Give her a hug for me.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! You might be just the person to answer my question about badgers then John.
ReplyDeletewww.helsieshappenings.blogspot.com
I was wondering if my picture is a badger sett. I'd be grateful of your opinion as there is still a bit of debate going on.
Cheers
I occasionally hear them in the summer. As they're so low-slung, you can hear them dragging themselves across the dried grass.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbour is still up to his tricks, and the dogs find a new carcass every week!
Glad to hear that your encounter with the badger was a peaceful one ~ even if poor Mabel was a tad spooked!
ReplyDeleteSadly, our newly adopted lurcher, Nikki, would appear not to have had such good meetings with badgers :-( She was rescued in Ireland where the GRWE (Greyhound Rescue West of England) think she may have been used in badger-baiting. She has suffered horrendous injuries and is covered in scars. She was abandoned in a pretty emaciated condition, along with her eight puppies, with terrible injuries to her jaw; she has lost her lower lip and is shortly going back to the vet for her final dental treatment which will mean the removal of more teeth as she has exposed nerves. At some point she has had a broken hock which has self-healed but in an incorrect position, and this leg also has shotgun pellets embedded in the bone *sob*
She would have stood no chance against a frightened, angry, cornered badger ~ and lord knows what happened to the poor badger...
Oh Mabel, that just how I felt when I unexpectedly met my ex mother-in-law years after I did the dirty and left her beloved son!
ReplyDeleteWe've got badgers here and I can never figure out why, when our house is stuck in the middle of 50 acres of field, they all come in the garden each night to poo.
Must be a centuries-old badger tradition- or maybe they just don't like us!
I thought she was a British Bulldog?
ReplyDelete'Sounds more like an Italian'...(as my Grandad used to say)
sharon
ReplyDeletea couple of years many of the villagers found a badger "pit" in the woods above Trelawnyd.
some poor badger was cornered in it with dogs...
dreadful !!
I'm so jealous. The closest I've ever been to a wild badger was a glimpse of one trotting by the side of the road as I drove home after a late council meeting many years ago.
ReplyDeleteI think all badgers are slightly podgy. This one certainly had a broad bum.
I've seen a badger skull (courtesy of my UK dwelling brother). I wouldn't one latching on to me either!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wimp! Tell her to man up. Or at least bulldog up.
ReplyDeleteI love Mable more with each story. Reminds of our two cats that ran into the far back bedroom and hid under the bed when they saw a moth in the dining room.
ReplyDeleteThere is one animal I've never seen in real life.
ReplyDeleteI know bulldogs are pussies - that is what makes them so adorable - so don't expect her to protect you!
ReplyDeleteAwww..Poor little Mabel.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad no one was hurt in the encounter. Given Mabel's splash in the pond, which i'm sure she hasn't forgotten, my guess is she's taking the safe road, which is the road leading home.
ReplyDeleteWhen i first came to my current location, i was fearful for the cats being outside at night as we have fishers here (like badgers). I wasn't sure that my cats would know them to be a predator. So far, so good.
megan
Her temperament is so different from Constance's!
ReplyDeleteWe've run across badgers a few times up in the hills, Dane and I, and it's been everything I could do to keep him from attacking it and getting himself killed. Badgers around here can be quite lethal. I wish Dane had as much sense as Mabel!
Dia