Just two posts ago I published this pic
I commented that she looks a lot like another abandonado in the village that we are reliably informed is the mother of Sophie our little pup.
For the time being 'Mum' has teamed up with the surviving formerly cave dwelling podenco Siouxsie and they are generally inseparable. I have told in previous posts about our attempts to capture Siouxsie having proved totally ineffective. She has however attached herself to our pack and can normally be found tagging along off leash, when we take the others out for their regular walks. She has abandoned the cave and now camps out on our doorstep, but still flatly refuses to come into the house. She has now been joined by 'Sophies Mum' The pair of them consider our street to be the total packs territory. This has proved to be something of annoyance to one local lady who objects to the occasional vociferous outbursts from either Siouxsie or Mum in defence of their territory.
Ok so much for background...fast forward to last night...
We estimate that Sophie is about five months old... which means that 'Mum' is probably due into season again very soon. Siouxsie is possibly overdue on her first season, she is now about eleven months. Last night we had a very disturbed evening... one of the ladies, (at the time we didnt know which), has become very interesting to the entire male dog population of the village... dozens of the buggers, all camped out in our street, all of them out to impress the female of the species with races, fights and trials of strength... also a competition running as to who can bark loudest and longest. All this kicked off just after 2.30a.m. Given that the resident house pack contains 4 very macho males they felt obliged to join in...
After 30 minutes it was evident tha no-one was going to get any sleep.
Life at 'La Casa Summer y Foxbat' is further complicated by the fact that, at night, the living room which opens directly onto the street, is Summer's bedroom as she continues to recover from her recent emergency operation. The sofa-cama when opened up is huge and takes up just about all of the available space. It is impossible to get out of the house without trampling over the bed. at about 3.30a.m. with no end to the various competitions going on in the street, i took it upon myself to break up the party and camp out on the doorstep myself. That way at least the rest of the street could get some sleep...
Suitably armed with coffee, a cushion and a blanket (it was quite chilly last night) and a pressurised plant spray gun filled with water, i went outside. a couple of quick blasts (phasers set to stun Scottie...!) from the spray gun got rid of most of the ladies entourage, but a couple of the more persistent ones decided to hang around just outside the effective spray range. Peace returned promptly.
All this time I was under the impression that it was Siouxsie that was nearing her season. I wanted to get her into the house away from the rabble-rousing bunch of would be suitors but as usual she was having none of it. No amount of treats or food would bring her near enough to slip a leash onto her. She eventually curled up on the opposte side of the street from the house and went to sleep. Mum in the meantime moved alongside her and she too went to sleep. From time to time during the next three hours, scouts from the various groups of suitors ventured into the street on intel gathering missions. All were sent away with a quick blastt from the 'super squirter' plant spray.
Daylight returned around 7am and the ladies woke up, stretched and took themselves off for a walk at which point I decided to call it a night and go back indoors.. I made a fresh cup of coffee and settled into the easy chair with the intention of getting some sleep, but then realised that the house pack was well and truly awake and anxious for a loo-stop and a morning walk. So it was then that finally at around 1030 we were finally able to crash for a while...
Famous last words from Foxbat... "Dogs bark... period... its what they do and they a bloody good at it!