Opinion

The mammals are ready for the hunt

Thursday, November 4, 2004

It seems the humans in our household aren't the only mammals being affected by the hunting fever this year.

I don't know who it was that decided dogs are nothing more than dumb animals, but I have to argue.

Max knows exactly what's going on.

For the last two weeks, as Brad has prepared for his archery hunt, Max has been acting like an excited child going to a carnival.

Brad puts on his camo shirt and Max begins his prancing. Brad slips into his camo pants and Max starts gathering his toys. By the time Brad slides into his boots, Max is running between me and the door, bouncing up on both and nearly knocking me over.

It's amazing how much dogs have in common with their masters.

Jer's been going out with us on our weekend hunts. When Brad puts on his camo shirt, Jer starts pacing around (he and Max have several collisions.) By the time Brad buttons his pants, Jer has all the hunting equipment gathered up and laying in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Between his collection and Max's, the pile stands about two feet tall.

And by the time Brad starts tying his boots, Jer's bouncing off the door in frustration.

If I'd known hunting was the motivator to get Jeremy out of bed in the morning, I would have gotten him started years ago.

Before he went to live with his dad, Jer was impossible to get out of bed.

We tried everything -- when we could find him.

We'd walk into his bedroom to get him up for school in the morning. Sometimes we'd find him on the floor beside the bed, but most of the time we'd have to look for him.

Sometimes we'd find him on the floor under the bed. Sometimes we'd find him in the closet. Every once in a while, after about 15 minutes of searching the house, we'd find him cuddled up on the bed.

Once we found him, we'd try to wake him. We tried kissing him, tickling him, bribing him, yelling -- we even tried ice a couple of times.

These days, he's usually sitting in the living room waiting for our alarms to go off at 6 a.m. Which is just fine with me. It gives me a chance to sleep in on weekends.

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