When ducks attack!

We take Duchess the Wonder Dog to the park for her daily walk. She belongs to Lyndsay, but since my daughter has an erratic work schedule through the summer, I've been the designated dog walker recently. Duchess is very good at 'reminding' us that it's time to go, and she does this by prancing around in the house until we open the front door. The dog knows the word “walk” so it cannot be spoken without sending her into gyrations.

Last week, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed wanted to go along and feed the ducks. Mary hasn't walked with us for a while because of the heat. It's hard on her, so she normally stays home. But there was stale bread in the kitchen and she hadn't been to the park for a couple of weeks. She wanted to visit the ducks. So Mary, Lyndsay, Duchess and I all piled into the car.

 

At the park, she walked to the edge of the pond where the ducks spotted the bag in her hands almost immediately. Every duck in the northern half of the county converged on her! Lyndsay, despite being an animal lover, was creeped out by the sudden crowd of ducks around her feet.

Duchess saw this as too much encroachment around her 'mom' and ran the ducks off. She raced toward them and they bolted into the water. Duchess would not pursue because getting into the water is entirely too much like getting a bath – something she avoids at all costs. But when she moved to the left, the ducks moved to the right and came back up on the bank looking for more bread. Meanwhile, Duchess was eating whatever bread she could find. This back-and-forth went on for a few minutes until one of the larger ducks tired of the game. The next time she lunged at them, he stood his ground and pecked at one of her front paws!

Duchess yipped and jumped back. She limped away holding the paw well off the ground. Lyndsay rushed over to look, thinking that she'd stepped on a fish hook or a thorn, but the dog was just being a drama queen. The duck called her bluff. Within a minute or two, she was walking normally again.

So be careful in our local park. There's a gang hanging out there, and they all quack.