New Friend

We have a mesh front door that hangs down and allows Jax to go in and out at will but keeps the bugs out. Occasionally a chipmunk or white tailed antelope squirrel will come in and I'll protect them from Jax. The problem child is the rock squirrels. The largest squirrels with the bush tails. They know where we keep the sunflower seeds for morning feeding and they had right for the hall way. Jax has free reign with them as they are about the same size. In the summer Jax will sit just around the corner in the hallway and wait for them to come in. When he hears their feet on the linoleum floor he blows around the corner. The rock squirrels struggle to turn around on the waxed floor and retreat.

Jax and I come back from hiking and when I walk into the office the trash can is tipped over. I'm thinking how happy Jax is going to be getting to chase a squirrel. A skunk comes out of the trash can. It's quick on the trigger. Sees us and sprays, though not in our direction. Jax and I run down the hallway and outside. I run back into the kitchen and grab a couple hot dogs and put them by the front door hoping it will smell them and come back outside. Jax takes off with both hot dogs. I go back in the kitchen and grab two more and see the skunk round the corner into the kitchen and back outside. Now he/she comes to visit every day. I leave the front door closed. People will pull up to play disc and when I walk outside they say "There's a skunk on your porch." I'll grab a couple hot dogs and it will take them and retreat under the porch. It's an older skunk and I'm pretty sure it's about blind. When I put a hot dog on the porch it doesn't seem to notice. It will hear the hot dog hit and then it's nose will guide it to the hot dog. Not sure what I'll do when the visitor season begins in late February.