The Triumphant Adventures of Sparky the Squirrel: Part Three

Sparky Triumphant

This adventure happened a while back when I had three dogs; Madam, TJ and Little Monkey. My daughters and I were out in the back garden, when suddenly there was a commotion at the corner of the house. The three dogs were excitedly going for something on the grass there.

When we got to them we found they had pinned down a little grey squirrel against the wall. The poor thing was small and thin, with long arms and legs in comparison to its body size, and a sparse tail. It was a teenager, that had foolishly wandered down from the safety of the trees, to the domain of the wolves!

I pulled the nearest dog off and handed it to a daughter, then grabbed the next dog. The dogs were so excited, that they kept getting away from my girls’ grasp and launching back into the attack again.

Throughout all this, little Sparky kept fighting for his life. He was on his back, shrieking loudly and striking out at the wolves with his tiny paws. (Sparky strikes back!) But it was enough to keep the wolves mostly at bay, and prevent them from grabbing him in their teeth.

Eventually we managed to get all the dogs under control and frog-march them to the house and shut them in. None of us was bitten by our dogs, nor ever expected to be; it was just instinct on their part to attack prey.

Poor Sparky was a bit soggy round the middle from a few dog mouths, and obviously very shaken, but he had survived to fight another day. He scampered to the corner by the stoep and just froze there.

We put a shelter round him, and gave him water and raw nuts and just left him alone to recover. The next time we checked, he had gone. Hopefully a little wiser for the encounter!

Sparky is invincible!