Dog Encounters With Other Animals and Critters

Tuesday Sep 27, 2011

Posted in: Prospect's Journal

At the end of this morning's walk I met an unusual crawling critter. It was a bright orange with yellow and black spots. In the video below you will see I am not so sure about this caterpillar at first; at about 0:15 immediately after the flip transition you will notice it startled me and I jumped back.

After posting the video to Facebook, my friends helped me identify this creature as the caterpillar / worm form of the Pandorus Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha pandorus). I also learned to be weary of the stinging saddleback caterpillar. After seeing the picture of the saddleback I don't think I would want to get close. It just looks plain mean. Ed says he hasn't ever seen one.

All day I have been thinking about all the different animals and creatures I have met. Although I have an Other Critters playlist on YouTube I decided I would recap my encounters and share the behind-the-scenes stories; especially for my newest friends who may not remember the camel or Mr. Toad. Somewhere there is video of me with walking sticks, preying mantis, and junebugs... I will have to dig into the video archives and see if I can find the clip.

Camel

We were trying to get to Memphis last fall when my human, Ed aka "The Chauffeur" was getting impatient with road construction. It was my first visit to Memphis and he was trying to get me there before sundown so I would be more comfortable when he would have to leave me in the hotel for a bit (apparently this thing called "work" exists everywhere). But if we would have been traveling interstate speed, we would have never noticed the camel along the outer road.

I wasn't so sure about the large creature. I was more interested in exploring the park I noticed down the road.

Horseshoe Crab

In April, after visiting Northern Virginia, then Washington D.C., I had my first beach experience in Delaware. Enjoying some fetch on the beach at sunrise, I met a very peculiar creature called a horseshoe crab.

Mr. Toad

Last summer (2010) Mr. Toad appeared in my driveway. I really wanted to play with him. He really fascinated me. And although it looks like it, I am not barking or making any noise at all; the wind created lots of noise so I muted the audio. Mr. Toad didn't hop off like his cousins the bullfrogs as seen in my Bullfrog Season video. This spring while camping in Arkansas at Devil's Den State Park one of Mr. Toad's cousins invaded our camp.

Cicada

This year (2011) there was a "plague of cicadas" (Ed's words). I was very interested in these buzzing critters. I especially thought it was funny when we would be out in the yard and one would fly directly at Ed's head making all kind of racket and noise. On occasion a few of these flying critters would get down Ed's shirt. Other times we would be driving along and they would start flying out from beneath the car seat. We learned to keep the windows rolled up.

Calvin the Horse

My first summer with Ed we were walking along in Robidoux Park when some horse riders suddenly appeared; rising out of the creek near where we were. They scared me. This was the first time Ed ever heard me growl. Then near Little Rock at Burns Park we met some horse riders on the trails. Ed saw them coming and helped me not get scared by hugging and petting me as they passed.

A couple months ago, Ed decided it was time for me to finally have an up close experience with horses and not be so scared. So went to meet Calvin (and Socks and Clyde). They live with dogs Buster, Gracie, Hank, Daisy, and Kaylie. The horses are also familiar with my friends Coco and Callie.

I didn't know quite what to think of Calvin; especially when he snorted. But I eventually got comfortable with him. Ed still on occassion holds me up so I can be eye to eye with Calvin or Socks (Clyde is not so friendly). I'm not crazy about that so I quickly get back to running around with the dog pack.