Suet Isn't Just for the Birds

We have several bird feeders on the side of our house where we can look out our dining room windows while eating our meals and watch the birds. We buy several types of food for the birds which includes suet. The woodpeckers seem to really enjoy the suet feeders and we enjoy watching both the Downy, Red Belly, and Harry Woodpeckers.

Recently, we discovered that the suet is not just a favorite of the birds. While Lisa was upstairs folding laundry, Gracie was downstairs playing and found the five packages of suet I had just bought the night before and had left on the kitchen counter. She pulled a chair over and helped herself to the suet. She opened a package and started eating it. Then she carried it upstairs to show her mom what she had found. Lisa wasn't too happy when she saw the half eaten suet package with the evidence of where the other half had gone all over Gracie's face, hands, and clothes. We now keep the suet out of Gracie's reach.

Then, yesterday, we noticed that one of the suet feeders that we had just filled was completely empty and the feeder on the ground. We couldn't figure out what had happened to it, so we just filled it again and hung it back up. It wasn't long before we discovered that Checotah, Ryan and Lisa's German Shepherd dog, was standing up on the bird feeder pole and knocking down the suet, opening it up, and eating it. She loves the suet. We don't know what we are going to do. We want the birds to keep coming, but Checotah won't leave the suet alone.

Checotah isn't a year old yet and she is our most challenging. Last Thursday evening when we got home from Vacation Bible School, Matthew let Checotah out of her cage and then he went out to the barn to check on the cats and kittens. Checotah went with him and when she saw one of the kittens she grabbed it and there was quite a scurrying to save the kitten from Checotah. The kitten had several puncture wounds, but was still alive. We hope she lives. Checotah does not like cats and she wants to be the Alpha dog, which Punkin has allowed. Checotah is a sweet dog, but she needs to learn a few manners. Especially when she is the guest.

Now days, life is never boring. When bedtime comes, the dogs all have their places. Both Molly and Checotah have a wire cage in the back room that they go into. Punkin sleeps in the bottom part of the garage and Lola sleeps in the slammer (Lola won't sleep anywhere else). When Shannon comes over to visit she brings Cooper and he sleeps in the upper part of the garage.

All in all the animals are being very good and we are thankful that we have a lot of land for our furry friends to run around on. They are really smart. Bob won't let them in the garden, and they know that. They run all around the border of the garden, but won't step foot in the garden. I'd say that's pretty smart.