Coon Hound Entertainment

Max was my friend, a coon hound who passed away years ago, for those who don't already know. He may be gone but his spirit lives well in my memory.

During cool weather Max would devour his food so fast I'd sometimes wonder after turning around if I even fed him. During really hot summer days Max would not always eat all his food in one quick gluttonous moment. He'd usually wait until the sun went down and the day would begin to cool.

I noticed one day when I stopped home for lunch that Max was taking one piece of dog food at a time from his bowl and would carry it to a corner in his run area. Then he would lay it on the ground and just walk a few feet away, then lay down watching it. Well I was in a hurry that day so I just shook my head, asked him what he was up to, then told him he was nuts and left.

A few days later I had finished the three month long job I had been doing. I had finished two days ahead of schedule so I had some time to relax a bit and sit in the shade and have a few beers. The first day I did that I had taken a few beers and was sitting at the picnic table beneath a shady tree.

As I and my X wife were sitting there talking and relaxing I noticed Max was at it again. He walked to his food dish, took out one piece of dog food, carried that one piece of dog food near the corner of his run and placed it on the ground. He then proceeded as before to walk a few feet away and lay on the ground and watch that piece of food.

I moved around the picnic table so I could keep and eye on him. While the X and I sat and chatted I watched Max. The X began to think I didn't want to talk because I wasn't looking at her and as she would, she left me know. I told her I was watching the dog. Then told her to move over with me and watch while we chatted.

She moved around and sat beside me. I was in the middle of explaining why we were watching and had gotten to the placing the one piece of food on the ground when all of the sudden a bird landed and began to check out the piece of dog food.

The bird hopped around lookin at it then began to peck. As the bird pecked it hopped around. When the bird was in a position that his back was towards Max, Max jumped up and towards the bird in one swift move. The bird was so startled he flew head first into the wire side of the dog run. He quickly though gained his birdie composure and flew to a nearby tree.

Max sniffed at the remaining piece of dog food and went right back to his laying spot. Again he laid there for a good twenty minutes. Just staring at the piece of dog food and so still the he was looking near dead. I'll be darned, another, or maybe even the same bird, flew to that piece of dog food, hopped around and began pecking.

Again he turned his back to Max and Max leaped again. With about the exact same results... This time though when Max checked out that piece of dog food I guess he figured it was getting to small. He walked back over to his dog food bowl and selected his next bit of bird bait. He walked back to about the exact same place and laid it there for his quarry.

Again in about twenty to thirty minutes it all was happening again. By now we couldn't take our eyes off of what we were seeing. We laughed so hard it was about impossible to drink the beer. This went on almost all afternoon. Max entertained himself with the birds and entertained us with his game.

One bird did hit the fence hard enough to stun himself a bit and Max nudged him with his nose until that frightened bird took off. He never actually made an attempt to hurt the birds, he just had his fun with his surprise attacks...

Tales of a lonely ole guy with a sense of humor...

Have you ever watched to see what your dog did for entertainment?

What are some of the funniest things you spent time watching your best friend do?