An Evening Walk at the Lake

An Evening Walk At The Lake

We had been enjoying a run of sunny, warm days here at the lake. These are the kind of days that make you want to linger outside when your work is done, just to admire the distant land across the lake, or to see what kind of animal has left its tracks on your beach. The ice had been melting near the shore and the dog and I were just taking in the sights and smells together at the water’s edge. The distant clamourous honking of a pair of geese became more voluble as they came into view over the beach flying at 50 feet of altitude and bearing down on us.

I expected the geese to suddenly recognize us and to change the direction of their flight. Instead they bore in on us slowing slightly and one of them appeared to be about to land directly on the dog, who was standing in the shallow water. They continued their discordant racket and moved over the ice beyond the dog where they landed. The honking continued while one or the other looked over its shoulder to see if they had the dogs attention.

Toque played the part that nature had cast for him too. He nonchalantly sniffed and circled in the shallow water, getting no closer to the birds, nor actually looking at them. Their honking continued unabated and soon a pair of brant joined them from where they were nesting in the ox bow lake beyond the lakeshore. As a seeming show of solidarity with the geese, they stood on the same patch of ice and ‘teased’ the dog silently. Toque made a big show of going toward their nesting area and disappearing over the berm – not once, but three separate times.

They waited him out. One of the brant slipped into a pond in the ice and swam around while the geese honked and the other brant silently made rude gestures at the dog. Toque made tentative moves to get to the ice sheet, but seemed ‘less than serious’ about it. He wandered up and down the beach, sniffing at tufts of grass, drinking from the lake, or just standing – looking far away.

Finally he found an ice ledge that was closer to shore and hopped up. He immediately took a few steps toward the birds, lowering his tail for the attack.  Just as quickly he made a hard diversionary turn to the left and accelerated away from them, running to the edge of the ice before wandering back to some equipment parked on the ice. Doing his dogly business, he marked the toboggan and wandered away again before finally turning toward the birds – who were still honking at him ceaselessly. This time he broke into a trot heading straight toward them..

The birds recognized that he was serious this time and lifted off, flying some tens of yards away before alighting again. Toque continued toward them and then the birds big plan bore fruit. The thin ice that they had led him across would not bear his weight and in he went. 

 It was his good luck that the water was only one foot deep or they might have drowned him. He struggled for a few long moments and then, finally, got traction with his rear feet.

 He charged away from the birds and ran until he was dry, coming ashore and leading me back to our cottage. He was so charged up that he dodged and ran in circles around me all the way back to the cottage – where a congratulatory chicken carcass awaited him.

Days passed. And then it was another sunny evening, like the one that had come before. I was carrying some firewood in the yard when Toque came charging up to me, jumping and gesturing for me to come with him.  As I followed him back to the beach, my only hope was that he was not after the Black Bear which has been hanging around lately. I was relieved to see that it was again a pair of geese. Maybe relieved is the wrong word. I was resigned to watching a replay of the events of Monday evening.

I was considering going for a canoe, just in case it was going to be needed.

 Suddenly Toque turned his back on the birds and ran past me and up the stair of the cottage. The memory of falling through the ice was still fresh in his mind and overpowered his first instinct. Smart dog.   

Toque Goes Hunting
https://vimeo.com/97054010