Yesterday My Wife Charged a Moose
I let my wife get a little miniature dachshund. I generally don’t care for small dogs, but I have to admit that dachshunds are kind of cool. And every one I ever met peed when it was happy to see you. So when we had the chance to get one from parents that didn’t wet themselves as way of greeting, I let her have one.
Now the thing about dachshunds is they are sweet, loving, cuddly, and absolutely fearless, much like my wife.
So when the moose came over the rise behind the house, one dog started barking, the moose saw the two dogs, and headed straight at them. At that point, my wife opened the door and called the dachshund. The dachshund, however, headed straight for the moose with the intent of inflicting great bodily harm.
So at the point I became involved, one full-sized, half-witted dog was was barking at the moose, one tiny dachshund was surging through the snow snarling out her intent to kill the moose, and my wife was running through the snow in below zero temperatures in her socks to save her dog. The moose was now zeroed in on all three and moving at a pretty good clip. Now I have had three very close calls with moose and have been charged a few other times as well, so I can read their body language pretty well. This moose meant business and was changing her primary focus to my wife.
Rather urgently I told my wife to come back to the house.
At that point I heard a roar from behind me and claws trying to gain traction on a wooden floor. My normally goofy, overly friendly malemute shot past me and out the door. I said, “Sergeant! Git ’em!” and he launched himself at the moose, all teeth and snarls and one end and flying snow at the other. The moose, previously unafraid to attack two dogs and a person, swapped ends and raced back over the hill with the malemute in hot pursuit to the property line.
That malemute’s biggest fault is that he is overly friendly. Everyone is his friend, short of a few people who he immediately disliked (and had reason). He normally shows a passing interest in moose in a playful sort of way. Moose are generally unafraid of him.
This time, he heard the urgency in my voice, saw the moose advancing on my wife and her dog, and aggressively threw himself into the situation. The moose was not afraid of another dog of the same size, and was not afraid of my wife, who was running toward it, but it was afraid of my dog and ran as quickly as it could without a fight.
The lesson here is that often aggressiveness and attitude can make all the difference. But make sure you have the teeth to back up your audacity.
7.62 Precision Custom Firearm Finishes 