Ground squirrels ex-closure

[lbailey4487]

Years ago I had an obsessive, compulsive doberman. She would tear down the firewood pile to get at the mice/squirrels/whatever lived under that wood pile. By the time she died of old age, her teeth were worn down to nubs from tearing down the woodpile. I'm sure if she were still alive, and lived at William's house, there would be no more rabbits, squirrels or rodents of any kind living there.

I had a similarly driven mixed breed. Her prey of choice was moles. Within six months time, she had eliminated them from our yard. We saw mole hills in the neighbor’s yards but not within the area she patrolled. Good doggy!
We had a similar fight with groundhogs as Tom did with gophers two summers ago with our garden. I was the one who didn’t want to kill them, my dad played along. Poison was a no go. At least we both agreed on that. I work with dog rescue, so had traps available. Got a little of everything except the big female we were after (releasing a skunk is interesting…lol). Then I decided we better have a plan for what to do with her once we caught her. Apparently relocating is illegal. That had been our plan, as a large county park is 1/4 mile from our home. No one takes in groundhogs. DNR and even wildlife rehabbers I tried said the only options were to shoot them or learn to love ‘em. Well, we can that food for winter, so I reluctantly agreed. Dad got at it. But another promptly replaced her. And so on ALL SUMMER. We and my dogs patrol often and early every year. It’s never been as bad as that year but we still have to dispatch a few per year. Next year I’m thinking of going with the idea the one guy on Facebook had. Fortify our main garden area but plan an easily accessed, sacrificial garden outside. We are out of other options.