Red and Rover by Brian Basset for March 22, 2023

Poor Rover. If a dog in a comic strip ever caught a squirrel, what would it do to it?

For some, it’s all about the chase.

The champion squirrel catcher is a large bird….

Actually, it’s usually a car.

If he actually caught them there would be fewer to chase.v

But he rates high in satisfaction surveys.

Must be the Seventies, Red hasn’t conveniently changed the narrative, yet! The truth

We’ll never tell your secret, Rover!

There was one time the neighbor’s springer spaniel pulled a squirrel by the tail through a chain link fence square. The dog had a new chew toy for the afternoon.

Awwwww – Rover comes real close to catching squirrels

bottom of the tree is close

My Scottie loved chipmunks more than squirrels.

Today’s strip reminds me of old Fred Basset strips in which he used to tell us, “That’s the nearest I’ve ever come to catching a rabbit.” The rabbit chasing seems to have been dropped from the strip in recent years.

Rover’s eyes in the final frame suggests he might be fibbing, but if it’s true, I’m glad!

That’s another event for AKC to incorporate, squirrel chasing, they can score it on style, speed, accuracy. Yip yip yip yip yip

After doing a lure coursing event, for fun we tied a stuff squirrel to the line and let any dogs chase the stuff animal at a slower speed. The dogs enjoyed themselves. Yip yip yip yip yip

LOL…

My dog annoys the squirrels by totally ignoring them. They try so hard to get her attention, but she won’t even look at them. She was a champion hunter before I got her, so I assume “ignore squirrels” was part of her training. I really enjoy watching squirrels try to “play” with her.

BUT-Red the chase is the thing!

Unusual to see Rover’s eyes that wide.

Our 11 year old Lab/Pit mix Daisy STILL chases squirrels! And many times she catches them. She was a feral dog in her first year, and the memory is strong. She eats the squirrels she catches!