Poocharoo has been a jumping dog from a pup, and now she is almost 8 years old and she hasn't slowed down any. I would swear she has springs in her legs if that were possible. She has caught five birds on the wing that I know of when they flew too low over her pen trying to get at her dog food in her dish on the back stoop. She keeps a close eye on the squirrels as they race along the high wires, over the house and garage roofs and in the trees. I think they like to tease her by sitting on the roof or in the trees where they can watch her and she can see them. They love the berries on the juniper tree in her pen. I have a short clothes line outside the back door that I hang Davids stump socks and my nylons on to dry in good weather and she takes up a position lying or standing under them and "guards" them keeping a close eye on the tree and the garage roof so that no birds or squirrels comes near until I take them down. But Thursday was a first: a young squirrel was eating berries and was heading out or down a slim branch that was low to the ground--probably about eight feet -- when I glanced out the door and saw her watching very intently. You could almost see her smile! The farther out on the limb that squirrel got the lower the branch hung and he must have been hungry because he wasn't watching my Poocharoo. That branch dipped and she leaped straight up like she does and if that squirrel hadn't made a sudden backward jump she would have had him. It looked like she sprang up a good six feet and just missed him. I didn't take him long to get to the top of the tree! I would swear she was grinning ear to ear when she turned her head and saw me watching her. We have a four foot fence around her yard and she regularly has her head higher than it bumping her nose against my hand as I walk along it with my arm extended above it. If she ever figures out that she can go forward as well as up I'm in trouble and we'll have to build a taller fence! She doesn't play with doggie toys, I've tried them, but she is on her third pair of old tennis shoes. She won't chase or jump for anything unless it's food, people food, then she will practically do flips and catch it. She loves popcorn. She's quite the Poocharoo and keeps me entertained. David has accused me of paying more attention to her than to him (not true) but I tell him that she is always there to keep me company when I need some. I sometimes think that dogs display more of the unwavering love as God does than mankind does. Love one another.
