Although she has taken plenty of animals in the past including spiders, grasshoppers, and plenty of mice, this is her first kill on a game animal as defined by South Dakota law.
I missed out on it, as I was in the house soaking up coffee and desperately trying to remember my name, mornings suck. She had given off a series of yips and barks in the backyard in her usual good natured name calling reparte' that she and the squirrels indulge in daily. But then things got quiet.
Well, if you have kids or a dog with too much "play drive", silence is suspicious, very suspicious. I got up and checked out the window to see a grey lump between her paws. I stepped out the door and she popped up with the mangled corpse in her jaws and a look of absolute pride in accomplishment displayed across her face.
Since the death was not accompanied with a credible witness, we had to empanel a coroner's inquest. An excerpt from the inquest follows:
ME: In your own words, what occurred?
LENA: I din't do nuffin'.
ME: This is not a trial, but simply an inquest to establish certain facts. We are not here to pass judgement or assign blame nor guilt. Something happened, I just need to hear your side.
LENA: Well, he fell down.
ME: Just fell?
LENA: Yeah, pretty much.
ME: And then...?
LENA: I, you know, just went over and checked on him.
ME: Please continue.
LENA: (warming up) His head popped off when I was giving mouff to mouff. Yeah, it popped off.
ME: Popped off?
LENA: Yeah, it sorta popped off on it's own, I dunno, it's a squirrel, they do funny stuff alla time.
