Daily Archive for May 25th, 2009

Broken Peace: Video


Oh my doggies are just wonderful!
As the days go on and I spend more and more time with them, they make me realise more and more what amazing animals they are. Nothing mind blowing, but just amazing AND I’m being allowed to spend my days with them.
The wild dog pack have spent the last few days chilling out in the hills and running sorties into the lowlands at dawn. So successful have been their raids in the mornings that they haven’t needed to hunt in the evenings and continue to spend their nights chilled out in the rocks.

Lone 'wolf'
And all this time, (well not at night) they’re allowing me up close and personal. So much so that I’m now seeing some development in Puzzles’ teats. Her nipples are starting to show, which they haven’t done in the past.
Golly this makes me wonder if I haven’t lost it…………… Staring at Puzzles’ teats and getting excited when I see them. Slow down dude…….!!!
If domestic dogs are anything to go by, Puzzles should have her pups in the next 2 to 3 weeks. At least I’m allowed to get excited about that, but not Puzzles’ nipples……. ☺

Puppy play
This area to the south of the hills at Hlamb Mhlonga, is prime impala country and a great place for the dogs to hang out. Actually it would be an ideal place to be denning with such an abundant food source close at hand. But Puzzles’ hasn’t shown any interest in dens in the area.

Bashing heads
I had left the dogs one morning in the hills and was on my way back to my vehicle when I heard the clashing of horns. Impala rutting season and the males were at each other. I ran over there knowing they would be too engrossed in each other to hear or even worry about my approach, and I did get really close. And I’ve seen it on numerous occasions when with a predator how they will home in on the sound of clashing horns. Easy pickings!

Distracted
Jigging continues to be the killing machine he is. For the last few days he’s been killing on his own and then calling the pack. Yesterday I was on his case but lost him and caught up to him milling around moving to and fro. And then he was onto it, an impala lying in the grass. He had obviously been chasing it and exhausted the impala ducked down in the grass hoping Jiggy would go screaming past. Which of course he did. But he was wiser than that and soon realised its trick. And when Jiggy did get to the impala it was way too exhausted to even stand up. Easy pickings.
And the good news is, Nike’s foot is fine. If I didn’t know she’d had an injury I wouldn’t have noticed her very slight limp.

Nike's trophy
I wish my injuries would heal that easily. My Achilles tendon seems to be torn and the muscle attaching to my hip hurts really badly. That seems to have come away from the bone. I’m sure a doctor would tell me the only thing to do is, Rest it! Well that’s not going to happen, I need to run with the dogs. And anyway if these animals can get over their injuries while still doing their daily ‘work’ then why can’t I? I think we get soft and pamper ourselves too much. And also I think if my Achilles and hip can heal with me using them, they’ll be so much stronger. So there you have it from Dr.Wolhuter!

Gigantic sunset
(Actually here IS something interesting: My wonderful mother, has Alzheimer’s and twice now she’s fallen and broken her hip. On both occasions, within a week she’s walking again. The nurse told me this is not unusual with Alzheimer’s patients, because they don’t remember their injury and so don’t have reason to feel sorry for themselves and carry on as if they’re just fine. The nurse said, other patients who have even smaller injuries take so much longer to feel better cos they continuously worry about their pain. Makes sense?)