"Not with my Frisbee you don't"

HRecently, my husband and I were in Northern California and staying at the family's mountain home.
It's a long drive from our hometown....about 12 hours door to door , and we don't make the trip very often.

This time, we weren't sure how long we would be staying, so we opted to take Captain Morgan with us and expose him to mountain and rustic living.

Being cooped up in a bumpy car for so long is tough on the most seasoned of travelers and by the time we hit the dirt road curving up the mountain toward the homestead, we were done in and the dog ready to run free.

Captain was exhilarated to be released into the wild and smell all of the new smells only available in this area. He dashed from tree to tree to rock and back. He marked his new territory diligently and discovered it was going to take a few more gallons of water and days to encircle  his claim on the entire mountain.

We went for a Frisbee outing on his second day where he could run for it with no boundaries and the smile on his face was constant. On a particularly long toss, Captain caught the Frisbee and kept running up the hill into the forest. In about 10 seconds, he came running back, looking over his shoulder and clenching the beloved Frisbee tight as he ran for the safety of the gated compound. Captain Morgan had just encountered his first deer. Not only that, it was a deer herd turning into stampede mode chasing after him. He was bewildered at the creatures. . . "What long legged and odd looking monster is this and why is it chasing me?". I've never seen the dog run so fast for cover and Frisbee play ended abruptly. He safe guarded it until the next day.

We went out to play again, this time with caution, checking for monster deer presence, but our play was interrupted with the appearance of "Dingo", a cattle dog belonging to one of the local ranchers, who had adopted us during our stay.

Dingo had never seen a Frisbee before but picked up on the general idea immediately. He is lightening fast and catching the Frisbee mid air not his forte, but if Captain missed, Dingo would jump on the Frisbee, pick it up and shake the crap out of it like he does to the squirrels that he catches for dinner!

Captain didn't hide his contempt for Dingo but  that didn't faze this tough dog. He killed that Frisbee in about 1 minute ripping the "indestructible" saucer to pieces and depositing it at my feet-Obviously not schooled in appropriate Frisbee etiquette. Living out in the middle of no where, there aren't a whole lot of Frisbee stores so we had the squeaking dumbbell and a tennis ball left. Again , Dingo snatched the "squeaker" and ran off into the woods with it. Dingo came back but squeaker was buried somewhere on another farm never to be seen again. He was all smiles so it was hard to yell at him. Country dog through and through.

Captain Morgan became tolerant of Dingo, even acting civilized, but I don't think he forgave him for destroying his beloved play things. When it was time, he was glad to get into the car and head home, safely away from the stampeding beasts and wild dog. We left the barrel of apples for the deer, the remaining tennis ball for Dingo and waved good bye. Captain is happy. He got a brand new Frisbee and Chuck-it set for his troubles, along with a brand new can of tennis balls. . . He still runs from pictures of deer though and looks away when he sees one on TV's Animal Planet.