Winston the Natural Born Killer

Maisie sniffing for scents while Winston searches for his evening prey.

Winston is my 7 year-old Welsh Terrier.  Please do not judge him wrongly, but he is a natural born killer.  A bug killer that is.

There are many words and phrases to describe Winston.  I call him my fluffy bunny because he is always shaggy and will hop not run.  He is also my little dude because he prefers to just lay back and watch the world pass him by.  His favorite daytime activity is to chill on the floor and sleep.

Only on evening walks in California do we call him killer.  Let me explain why.

Not that long ago I took him out to ‘do his business.’  He hates walking and will not budge during the day, but at twilight or later in the evening when we are in the desert he comes to life.

Winston on the hunt.

 He immediately starts stalking the curbs and electrical control panels in the grass.  He patrols around every mailbox in front of every house.  It appears that the concrete pads and the control panels are where his prey hides out.

He may have lazy legs, but his ears are always active, searching for sounds.  Winston’s biggest joy each night is hunting for cockroaches.  Perhaps they make a sound I cannot hear. All I know is, when he locates one, he goes berserk.

Head swiveling, ears alert and then snapping at the ground and attacking.  Roaches are fast and he is not always successful.  But that night in March he caught the grand daddy of all desert roaches.  There was quite a fight between the two combatants; in fact, it was a fight to the death.  Winston was victorious.

The slaying of the giant bug was his victory and he pranced home like the winner of Westminster, striding triumphantly around the show ring.

The next morning when my husband came in from walking the dogs, he mentioned the dead carcass in the road.  “Winston killed it last night.” I replied.  “That, was one big cockroach.” He exclaimed as Winston sank onto the tile floor and began to snore.

As long as we are in California there will be long lazy days followed by blood thirsty searches for one of America’s least favorite bugs.  It’s Winston’s life, just the way he enjoys it.

Dead cockroach courtesy of Shutterstock.