Chihuahua- Pigeon Hunter

WARNING:  We did all we could but this story does not end well for the pigeon.  So pigeon enthusiasts might not want to read.  Everyone else think a good thought for our little friend that hopefully is flying free in pigeon heaven.

I woke up yesterday really early because Ben left early and it woke up Copley. He needed to go out so I drowsily put on a robe, woke up the chis and opened the back door. I just want you to imagine me, contacts still fuzzy, sleepy, stumbling out the back door 3 hours before my typical wake-up time. Suddenly I hear flapping and screeching and look down to see Copley trying to play with a pigeon on the porch. As I am trying to usher the action away from the door and get Copley away from it out of nowhere a chihuahua (still not sure what one but I think it was Kerri) grabs the pigeon and runs into the house with it. This all happened in less than 5 seconds. Barely awake to pigeon in the house is not the way to start your morning.  

So I call Copley over and put him in a down stay.  That I think deserves a little attention, because my dog down stayed with a pigeon freaking out in the living room.  Can I win an award for that? Copley has a great trait where the higher value the item he wants the more willing he is to listen to me.  I somehow managed to convince that dog that in every area of life he is likely to get what he wants by listening to me.  His willingness to accept that truth I am eternally grateful for.

At this point Kerri has the pigeon and Nova is going for the vital parts.  It was like a pack of wolves, tiny, tiny wolves who had no idea what they are doing.  The pigeon gets free and I grab Kerri by the scruff. I'm yelling at the pigeon because I am not really thinking straight and then Nova comes out with her best home defense posture and starts going for the pigeon again.  So I have Kerri by the scruff and Copley is like teetering on the edge of what he can handle in this down stay and Nova is trying to eat it and I finally get a hold of Nova the pigeon titers on it's feet, the thing is not in good shape and takes a moment to right it's self then it calmly walks out the door that I then manage to close. 

First order of business is I empty a treat jar into Copley's mouth because seriously that was like the best down stay I have ever seen in my life.  Hopefully my sheer joy and every treat on the counter made Copley's patience worth it.  If only the chihuahuas would behave like that.

Copley still has to pee and I am still delusional that the pigeon just needs to recover and fly away.  So I send the chihuahuas to the DoggieLawn, because they are not going out there with that pigeon and I put Copley on a leash to pee/scare the pigeon away.  Outside we go and there is the pigeon, looking a little iffy and wandering around the yard.  Copley pees, whines at the pigeon and then I take him inside.  Pigeon can't fly, it is not leaving the yard.  The problem I realize is that the neighbor a ways down is poisoning pigeons.  I have lived in this house for over 4 years, surrounded by pigeons and not once has one let a chihuahua catch it or come close to coming inside the house.  Occasionally one will hit the window and hang out in the yard for a few hours recovering, but they always squawk at the chis to scare them away, or fly off when they come over and they always leave eventually.  I am beginning to suspect that this pigeon has been poisoned.  I call a friend I have who raises baby pigeons every so often and they tell me that it was probably poisoned and there is nothing they can do to help me.

Pigeon is no longer with us.

Moral of the story here- don't poison pigeons!  It just thins the population and they breed more to get the numbers back up anyway.  There are services that will trap them all and put up spikes and other deterrent and guarantee no pigeons on your roof for like 5 years.  Poison just litters the neighborhood with dead/dieing birds and in the end doesn't really do anything at all.  Our walks have turned into dead pigeon spotting adventures, it is gross.