As a teenager I never took on board much of what my father taught me and he died thirty years ago so he's not around to remind me but one little gem he did come out with was this...
"A man chases a woman 'til she catches him..."
It occurred to me that this may be a way of gaining the trust of the last little Troggie whom I have named 'Siouxsie' after the banshee racket she makes when anyone gets too close to her territory.
Rather than trying to make a fuss of her this afternoon when I took her food out to the cave, I called her once, by name, put her food down and then sat by a little distance away to see what would happen. She came out, knowing it was me of course, and started eating.
I know her routine by now, she will eat a few mouthfuls and then go off to answer a call of nature. When she comes back for a second shot is when I normally start talking quietly to her. This time I just stayed quiet with my back to her supposedly ignoring her.
It was all very quiet. Suddenly she came up to me and grabbed my ponytail, tugged on it a couple of times and then nudged me in the back. Seeing this as something of a breakthrough, I turned around slowly to find her in a heads down, bum up, 'I want to play' stance. I adopted a similar pose and she slowly advanced towards me. (True!) But as soon as I reached out she backed off, her tail wagging furiously. We messed around for a couple of minutes, me reaching out, and her hurtling off in the opposite direction then returning but every time she staying just out of reach. Playtime came to an abrupt end however when one of the villagers appeared about 100 metres away with hs dog off the leash.
Souxsie disappeared like a shot into her little refuge. It's not the dogs she is wary of, its humans. I know from watching her when her siblings were around that she is more than capable of looking after herself, some of the fights they had were frightening to watch. Summer and I can walk past the cave with all of the rest of our pack in tow and she will stand her ground. Our two pack leaders are big dogs, as I have said one is a greyhound bitch and the other a male Saluki but there is never a sign of aggression from anyone.
So...maybe some kind of breakthrough; I hope so, it would be nice to get Souxsie of the street.