That Dog Won't Hunt

I'm still chuckling.  Joan sent me a link to a New York Times article titled  "Putting the Pounce Back in Your Pup" - the very amusing story of a reporter taking his feckless basset hound, Elvis, to hunting school.  There's also a video.  Watch it!

The notion is that your lay-about hound can learn to hunt rabbits...with the help of a mentor.  There's not a real high percentage of success...

To Elvis, meals come on plates, not legs.
...
Most house dogs were simply confused. They seemed interested in the smell of rabbits, but equally interested in the smell of other dogs. They did not grasp the mission. ...

“That’s the problem with our domesticated dogs,” said Mr. Stern, a psychologist from Long Island. “They smell our pizza. They don’t smell the rabbits anymore,” he said, adding, “If we had put a steak in the woods, that might have worked.”
...

Immediately, Quest put his nose to the ground. And then, for a magical moment, so did Elvis. He breathed the scent in deeply, began padding down a path after the rabbit and looked like a genuine hunting dog. It was thrilling.

And that’s when Elvis got distracted. Quest darted into a tuft of tall grasses, but Elvis looked daintily uninterested. And just as the rabbit appeared to be escaping for good, Elvis stopped. He lifted his right hind leg and urinated.

“Hunt’s over,” Mr. Engle declared. 

Gawd I want a hound!

In other news, we're finally back to real Juneau weather.  Low stratus,  Rain.  Southeast wind.  It actually feels quite refreshing - it's been an amazingly dry spring.  Not that I don't hope it stops raining tomorrow, of course.

Dougie's doing his rib BBQ gig tomorrow evening.  Looking forward to it.  I got the fixin's for baked beans with an apple rum crust and coleslaw today.  Will do some cooking tomorrow. 

Yesterday Eric, the hounds, and I walked up Montana Creek.  Very pretty.  Very green.  The creek is quite low.  Surprisingly...no bear sign.  That will change next month when the fish arrive...

A couple of pics from the past week:

Mom's garden is looking pretty good

The Iris and Lilly  are in bloom

Eric's happy hounds

Have a great weekend everyone!