FOX ON THE RUN

~ tippysmom2

I am trying to get in a little more exercise in an effort to lose some weight.  Yesterday, I decided to walk for 45 minutes.  Tippy’s usual walk is only about 25 minutes.  In an effort to extend the time and not get bored, I walked places back in the fields that we don’t usually go.  I still had 15 minutes left when we got back to the house, so, I did laps up and down the driveway.

On the first lap, Tippy came running past me – I’m convinced, just to show off – and went under the fence into the neighbor’s field.  On my way back, I was startled by something running down the hill and into the driveway.  It was a squirrel, which, upon seeing me,  was just as startled as I was.  We stared at each other a few seconds and then he did his horror film impression (darting back and forth in the road) before running on down the hill into the woods.

On my next lap, I heard a noise in the woods, looked down, and saw it was Tippy.  She let out an excited little bark and then took off running.  I figured she was chasing the squirrel, so was surprised when I saw a red fox come streaking across the driveway in front of me with Tippy right on it’s tail. I yelled at her, but, she was so intent on chasing the fox that I’m sure she didn’t even hear my voice. I was just wasting my breath.

I was a little bit concerned about how far/long she would chase this new intruder into her territory.  But, fortunately, she came back in less than 5 minutes.  Since everything happened so fast, I didn’t get any pictures of the actual chase.  I did, however, get some pictures of Tippy when she got back.

Mom,it wasn’t easy, but I chased whatever that was away!
I need a drink after that!
fox3
I’ll just rest here for a minute.

In case you have never seen one, here is a picture of a red fox.  They are actually a pretty animal and help keep the the squirrel and rabbit populations in check.

redfox
Red fox

We never know what we are going to see when we go for a walk.  That’s one thing I love about living out in the country!

Seeing the fox running made me think of the song “Fox on the Run” by Sweet, which I grew up listening to, hence the name of this blog post.  Here is the video, if you would like to listen.

38 thoughts on “FOX ON THE RUN”

    1. I’m glad she didn’t either. From what I saw, they were pretty well matched, as far as speed goes. My thoughts are that once the fox got far enough away from “her” property, she just let it go.

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  5. One summer we had a fox nest near our townhouse complex and I saw the babies out briefly. I don’t know what happened to them – or don’t want to know. They didn’t come back the following summer. I was concerned however that my dog would notice them. Fortunately, he never did. I think they were smarter than him .. and I’m sure the mom fox would be tougher too.

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    1. You’re probably right about the mom fox being tougher. Most wild animals are very protective of their offspring. I’m glad your dog didn’t notice them. I’m hoping this one was just resting and doesn’t have a den on that hill. Maybe Tippy persuaded it that that wasn’t a good idea, if it did.

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  7. Tippy looks tired but like a great time was had!

    We were out on a walk last weekend when my next door neighbor stopped me (he was driving) to tell me that he had just seen a fox in the direction we had come. It happened to be at a location where Choppy has recently been spending a lot of sniffing time. So I may not have known it was there, but Choppy definitely did, even if she didn’t see it!

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    1. Sounds like Choppy DID know. I often wish Tippy could tell me what critter she smells – especially when she spends 2 minutes sniffing up and down a single weed. I figure it is either something she’s not familiar with or she’s trying to decide if it is worth the effort to leave behind some pee-mail. 😉

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    1. It was 1974. I loved “Little Willy” too. When I drive long distances, I listen to 70’s on 7 on Sirus XM radio. It brings back lots of memories and helps me stay awake as I sing along.

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  9. Oh Tippy, you are beautiful. Thanks for stopping by DogDaz Zoo. We will come by and visit again. Watch out for those foxes. We have many and they make us crazy – bark bark bark bark

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  10. I can’t believe I remembered that song, even if the title didn’t jar anything in my brain. Sounds like you and Tippy had quite the outing. Your description of the squirrel horror show thing is funny and all too true. Sometimes you have to wonder if they’re suicidal.

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    1. We did have a great outing. Thank you. I think you may be the only person who caught my horror show reference and knew what I meant. At least, you are the only one that commented on it. I laugh and think about that every time I see one in the road.

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      2. I actually have heard somewhere that it is their defense mechanism. They think if they zig-zag enough, they will either confuse or lose whatever is chasing them. Doesn’t work for a car, unfortunately.

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      4. As an aside, this actually works for alligators. They can outrun a human in a straight line, for a short distance. But, if you zig zag, they try to follow you and it slows them down enough that you can get away.

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      5. I do recall hearing that about alligators although I don’t think I’d have the wherewithal to run in a zig zag pattern. So I’d probably end up being alligator bait. 😂I can only laugh because odds are I won’t find myself in this situation. I hope I won’t have to eat my words.

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      6. I hope you don’t either, Steph. This was part of our safety briefing when I transferred to Florida when I was in the Air Force. I never had to use this tidbit of knowledge, but there was a huge alligator that lived in the drainage ditch near the building I worked in. We called him George.

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      8. He didn’t. Unfortunately, some people would feed him, which is a no-no. That is what makes them become a nuisance. I would walk/run after work some days and was always wary when I went by him, but he never made a move towards me.

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  11. We used to have foxes in our neighborhood too but they seem to have moved away. One morning at sunrise when I let him out, Sam decided to dash off after one of the yard visitors. I had to chase him for nearly 3 blocks in boxer shorts and t-shirt, barefooted. That knucklehead came trotting back looking a lot like Tippy, dog-tired. Grrr. Thanks for sharing that cool song!

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