We were walking down a gravel road when, perhaps a hundred yards ahead of us, a grey fox crossed the road at a dead run, from a brushy area on the left of the road to a wooded area on the right side. The wooded area wasn’t very big; at its edge a long open grassy stretch began and continued to where we stood, and beyond.

Our mastiff Jack was off down the road instantly, turning into the woods where the fox had gone. Like us, he thought the fox would prefer the cover of the forest, or perhaps keep going away from the road, through the wooded area and up the steep brushy slope at the back.

Not so: while Jack remained in the woods sniffing around, here came the fox out of the trees and down the long open strip paralleling the road. He was completely exposed, and heading right toward us. Maybe he’d zigged and zagged a bit after entering the woods, to give Jack some scent to follow, but very soon he’d made a hard right to leave the confined area for a place where he could gain a lot of yardage on his pursuer.

By the time Jack followed his nose and reached the grassy area, the fox was long gone past us and out of sight; our exhilarated dog ran after him quite a ways before giving up. Then he came back to the woods to snuff up that interesting smell some more. I can imagine his satisfaction: finally, he had a visual sighting to go with one of the mysterious smells he’s found on our walks. And the fox, well, he proved his legendary cleverness once again.

Photo by dbriz