Lesson Learned

I came very close to posting about this a few days ago, but in the end I decided there wasn't enough of a story. For good or ill, that story has now expanded.

Flower made squirrel kill number six on Friday. I was in the process of closing the gate after backing out the car when she brought her fresh kill to drop at my feet. I was on my way out, only expecting to be gone an hour or so, so I just congratulated her on the kill and let her be. What harm could there be in letting her bask in her victory while I was gone, before I returned to put it in the trash?

Well, when I returned, the squirrel was nowhere to be found. I searched and searched, but could find no trace. Clearly, Flower had buried it for a rainy day. I didn't really think much of it, especially since there was nothing I could do about it anyway.

Fast-forward to today. I got home and let Flower out, as usual. I decided to open a beer and read my book in the beautiful, late afternoon sunshine. Not long after, I noticed a smell. Quite a smell. Yes, Flower had unearthed her nearly week-old kill and decided it was ripe enough to play with. She was having a ball! The corpse was her newest toy. She would nibble on it, thrash it about her head, throw it on the ground and then flop around with it in the grass. I thought to myself, "Why not? She earned it!" Hoo boy, was that a mistake.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the stench of a rotting carcass. Hopefully, not many. This may be the eau de toilette of choice for dogs, but for humans, it is quite retched. The only benefit for me was that I'm currently reading a novel about vampires, so it added to the ambiance (Note to self-- patent smell of rotting animal flesh for use in smell-o-rama zombie movies).

Flower enjoyed wallowing in the odor, and then trying to bring it in the house. Out in the backyard it didn't seem so bad, but the second I (foolishly) let her in the house, I knew my mistake. So, she got an impromptu bath, and I learned a valuable lesson: Always throw away dead things. No, let's see, never let a dog get away with murder. No, that's not it either. If you smell it, let it go? Hmm. Never trust a live dog with a dead squirrel? Okay, well, none of those seem very good. Let's just say whatever lesson I was supposed to learn, I learned it well.