A bird in the hand and a bulldog in the backyard

This morning as I was doing chores I kept hearing Barley, our bulldog mix, barking. Barley almost never barks unless there is something to bark about, and the shelties (for once) weren't barking with him. After 3 or 4 single loud WOOFs from hin, I decided to stop cleaning out bunny pens and investigate.

Barley was standing at the backyard fence line furiously staring down at a clump of tall grass just on the other side of the fence. I figured he'd found a nest of mice and was just about to double back and collect Hunter, our barn cat, to take care of it when I saw a little red tuft of feathers just barely peeking out from under the grass.

Turns out Barley is not just a good snake hunter and rabbit watcher, we can now add quail detector to his list of accomplishments. It seems this little girl somehow escaped the quail pen and was just looking for a place to hide when a bulldog started barking in her face. I tucked her back into the enclosure, and she immediately went for the feeder to get herself some breakfast.

He may not be a herder, but I guess Barley has found a way to be a useful farm dog after all.