Do you know Buster? My terror….um I mean terrier.
He is the little scruffy dog that makes frequent appearances on my Instagram feed.
Anyways, over the past two weeks he has developed a bit of a fixation.
Every morning he wakes up and runs straight to the back door. Which isn’t unusual because that is what we have done every morning for the last 6 years of his life.
But now when I let him out he goes straight to the corner of the back patio and sticks his nose to the ground.
He sticks his butt straight in the air, sniffs, whines and paws at the corner.
He continues to sniff around the corner.
He sniffs down the side of the house.
Sometimes he will scratch and bite at the windows ledge, as you can see by the tiny little holes left behind. Booger…
He continues down the side of the house and perches up on the ledge of the stone trim and sniffs some more.
He then gets up on his hind legs and sniffs up the wall.
He then makes his way back and starts the sniffing all over again. He sits outside for hours at a time now sniffing and staring at the wall.
When I let him in the house he goes to that same area of the house and repeats the same ritual.
It’s a very curious and bizarre ritual. One that he has committed to for close to two weeks.
It’s obvious that something has his attention and he is determined to find it. It is in his DNA after all.
ter·ri·er/
Noun:
A small dog of a breed originally used for turning out foxes and other burrowing animals from their lairs.
I am thinking it’s time to call the landlord and get some pest control out here.
Is it a mouse, a rabbit, a mole, termites? Some mutant subterranean alien living under my house? It could be anything but I am worried my poor dog is going to have an anxiety attack if we don’t find out soon.
Any of you ever had a dog do something like this?
Gosh, I have a holy terrier that looks like your, Buster. Luigi is 3, a rescue. I think he is WestiePoo.
I stand corrected, you are very faithful to your website…having said that, your pupster is definitely telling you, “Yo,ma! Theres somethin’ here, I can smell ’em.” Heed your dear pups warning…the sooner the better. Varmints can cause severe damage in short work. Good luck and thank youfor giving me great ideas. p.s. your dog is adorable
Our Mollie is completely obsessed with the chipmunks and squirrels in our backyard. She will spend hours sniffing each and every tree (and we have plenty). I don’t have to worry about her digging under the fence because she’s so fixated on the squirrels. They love to torment her too! They sit on the lowest branches and chatter at her which just makes her more obsessed. We’ve had to literally pick her up and carry her into the house because she doesn’t respond to us when we call her to come in. If she could climb the trees I expect she would.
I have a West Highland Terrier named Drumstick/Dudley/Puppet. He has 3 names because he has at least 3 different personalities. Terriers are smart, tenacious, and pretty darn funny. He did the same kind of thing as Buster for a couple of months until I finally called in a pest control service. RATS! Yes, it seems that there were some little rats building little rat condos under my front porch. It did not take long to settle the problem, thankfully. Buster is on to
something for sure:-)
You have rodents somewhere in that area. I had a Terrier named Max who dug a whole in one of our kitchen walls looking for something like that. It was a townhome and it turns out the neighbor had mice in his house and one had snuck between the two units inside the sheetrock. As soon as we caught the little mouse with a trap, my dog stopped sniffing and digging. Call the landlord for some extermination work.
My uncle has a Jack Russell. I hate to say it, but when she started doing things like this it was termites…..
He’s a terrier….he takes his job seriously. Have been with terriers all my life in a suburban environment and when I watched my westie go after a pet rabbit (which he didn’t get) down the rabbit hole, I understood it was in their genes. Checking it out is a GOOD idea.
I have two West Highland White Terriers. They do this as well but not everyday. I believe something, raccoon or some other animal that can scale, has been in the yard and the dog’s can still smell the scent long after the mysterious guest has left 🙂
It’s pretty comical.
I have a terrier and they are bred for sniffing out rodents and vermin. My dog goes nuts when the rats are out and about. The smell of them makes him stick his nose to the ground and follow it everywhere as well as under the porch and the corners of my yard. The same when he smells the skunks that seem to borrow under my out building every spring. I would certainly look into why he is insistent on those areas. I always trust my dog.
“Chipmonk”
My parents’ dog fascinated over a lizard in our yard. She walked around the grill so many times (in about 4 hours of “fun”) that she actually wore the skin off her feet. That meant vet bills. Dogs can get pretty OCD about things. It might be something like a lizard, snake, frog, etc.
When my parents’ dog comes over now, she will immediately go out to the grill and start the walk. We have to drag her in. Its been 5 years!