Snips, Snails, and puppy dog tails….. Chasing Chickens

What?

Thats what I said when my mom and I were picking cucumbers out of her garden while visiting her on the farm.

Hubby and the kids and I were getting prepared to leave the farm and one of my last things to do was to rid my mom’s garden of some free food!  So we were out there going in and out of the many rows of veggies when all of a sudden we hear the dogs barking and the chickens clucking and it all getting faster and louder.  My mom and I look at each other and start running and yelling…  The house dogs (IE: my dogs which are not farm dogs by any means) were let out of the yard by my lovely 5 year old son, and they took off towards the chickens that have been teasing them all weekend.

So my mom and I come running out of the garden yelling at the dogs, trying to get them to come back but they were in chase mode.  So we started running.  Back and forth, around tables under the tent, (that we had set up from the party we had the night before), and in and out of the many out-buildings.  I swear I’ve never seen my dogs run so fast and act so crazy.. They had it in for the chickens.   I was running after my 6 month old APBT (Pit bull), who is actually the sweetest dog I know and who just happened to follow suit and got carried away. It was like chasing a pigglet, every time I’d reach for him he’d get away.  But after what seemed like 5 min. of chasing, we were in the barn and he pounced on the roster (one of two out of the group of chickens) and I grabbed his tail and yanked him off his feet.   40lbs hanging from a tail fell limp… and the roster just laid there.  No, he didn’t kill the roster; he just plucked about every feather from his behind.   While I’m doing this, my brother; who ran out of the fence after the dogs,  cornered my 2 year old  Engilsh Mastiff in the chicken coop and got the leash on him before he could do much harm.  I think he got a mouth full of feathers but that was about it. 

Needless to say we were all out of breath dragging the dogs back to the yard.  My poor son,  got yelled at during the chaos, but seemed to recover quickly.  We arn’t really sure what happened but I don’t think he let the dogs out on purpose;

 he lives for being at the farm and knows that animals don’t go through the gates there.  So I bet they were playing (Nathaniel and the dogs), and Nathaniel had enough and went to leave the yard but the dogs were not finished playing, and in that moment I wouldn’t doubt they barged through the gate. 

So after that work out, we finished up in the garden and the kids, dogs, and Hubby and I piled in the truck to leave…  What a way to say good bye. huh?  LOL