New puppy and a fox den in the neighborhood

I have finally added a photo to this blog. I suspect nobody cares very much what I look like, but we have a new puppy in the house and he is just incredibly cute, as you can see.

We got the puppy through a local Humane Society, so nobody knows for sure, but our best guess is that he is half German Shepard and half Chou. He is an incredibly quick and playful guy, full of spit and vinegar as you would expect a puppy to be.

But, what leads into the second part of my story is the fact that his primary color is a reddish brown (that looks more reddish than brown in bright sunlight!) and he has a face that looks very much like a fox. So, our family joke is that he is just an extra fuzzy, extra chunky fox that somehow was mistaken for a dog, captured and dropped off at the Humane Society.

I've previously written here about seeing a fox in my back yard, and since the arrival of the puppy, my dog walker (a family member) has been reporting that he frequently sees a fox while walking the puppy and that the fox seems fascinated by the puppy to the point that it will follow along at a distance observing the puppy.

Yesterday I was walking the puppy myself when my companion said, "Look at the cats, somebody must have dumped a litter of kittens!" At first glance I decided the animals in question were too big to be domestic cats. After a second look I realized they were young foxes!

The three fox cubs were standing on a mound of dirt which I soon realized was their den. Apparently their fascination with my puppy had overcome their natural wariness. They stared at him until the next house blocked their view.

I would not have expected foxes to have a den in a relatively open spot in the midst of a suburban subdivision, but they do! This does help explain why I have not seen nearly as many rabbits and chipmunks in my back yard as I normally do this time of year.