Tootie, you don't even like snakes
I just watched Cooper and Tootie spend about 5 minutes trying to get to a snake that was hiding in a pile of sticks and a roll of wire fencing. Cooper is a better and more aggressive hunter. He sticks his nose under the roll of fencing, he tries to roll it around with his paw, he barks at the snake when it won't come out. When the snake gets under the sticks, Cooper gets even more excited, and pops a wheelie, then comes crashing down with both paws to get a better angle on the snake. He manipulates his environment. What is weird is that once the snake has been flushed out into the open, he looks at it for about 10 seconds and starts looking in the pile of sticks, hoping to find another snake. When that fails, he gets bored and moves to another part of the yard to bark at crows.
Tootie does not take the lead in the hunt. When Cooper is nosing around trying to get at the snake, Tootie is the one who goes around to the other side to make sure it doesn't escape. Which it does. When the snake is on the move, she just sort of pussyfoots at it, with more curiosity than aggression. If she gets even a little bit in Cooper's way, he snaps at her and she backs off. She seems only mildly interested in the hunt, but both times I've watched them do this, Tootie is the one who finally gets the snake. She grabs it in her mouth and shakes it, then throws it aside and stands over it. This is when Cooper loses interest.
At this point, I'm a little concerned about the snake, and while it is funny to watch the dogs freak out, I don't want to watch either of them get bitten in the eye, and as I'm eating a sammich, I don't want to see snake guts ripped asunder either. I also don't want Tootie to fling a pissed off snake at my feet. The snake, once caught and dropped, curls up in a wad with the head at the bottom, and flicks its tail around a little. Even though it is moving, it isn't going anywhere, and that is evidently what the dogs found to be objectionable. Last time, Cooper got bored quickly, and Tootie watched closely for a few minutes, not touching the snake again, but watching intently before trotting off. Today however, Tootie watched the snake twitch for a few seconds, and then used her finishing move. That little fatty reared up on her hind legs, then brought the full weight of her cheese-enhanced shoulder down onto the snake like a pro wrestler, then got on her back and scrubbed around. I don't know her intent, but she was either trying to suffocate the snake, to scratch her own back, or get the snake to pet her. Flopping around like a fish out of water. Like a pig in mud. Like a Tootie on a snake.
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