Hunting the Ferocious Gecko

This male dog of mine, is one of the few creatures on this man's Earth, that has won my heart. I would literally do anything for him, while Zoie remains a dog. Lately, he has slowed down a little bit and I've noticed that he hasn't been able to catch a lizard in months. He still gets all excited when I announce Lizard Hunt, every night about 10:30. He runs to the door reminding me of a racehorse waiting to come out of the chute. I tell him I want a nice clean hunt and turn on the light and open the door. Bogie trips, usually farts and goes around the corner at lightning speed, only to find that Zoie has been there for awhile and is already filing her nails and checking her watch. Did I mention that Bogie can't see so well? He looks at me and waits for prompts to find the elusive Geckos. If I see one, I point to it and chase it down the side of the house, where Bogie is waiting with an open mouth. In the old days, it really wasn't much of a chase. Bogie would catch it, throw it around the patio and when he was satisfied that it was dead, he'd go on. Most times I'd make sure the Gecko escaped, but occasionally Bogie would corner one and kill it. Bogie needed to bag one for his own self esteem, (yeah, he's got self esteem). Last night I was hoping he'd get one. Usually, I point out a few as Bogie watches them scurry to safety without even reacting. Last night, because there is a God, we went out there and here was this lonely, scrawny, just lost a fight with his mother, Gecko named Hector. Don't ask how I knew his name, okay? Some things you just know. I did the usual prompting and immediately notice that Hector had a gimp leg! This may be our boy!

I alerted Bogie to Hector's presence and even told Bogie that Hector has been going around the "hood", talking trash about Bogie. I was trying to get Bogie "fired up" a little. With a mighty roar, Bogie attacked..........but missed and Hector was limping his way to safety. I yelled, Bogie, over here, and he came running and attacked again. One of the defense mechanisms that the elusive Gecko has is separating itself from it's tail, and usually the predator chases the tail that is wiggling and jerking. Naturally, Bogie is really going to town with the tail. As Hector limped away, I signaled Bogie with a, pssst! Bogie ignored me and was going to be the victor of the tail attack. I casually put my foot over Hector and called Bogie, once again. "Look what I've got", caused Bogie to come running. This time Bogie attacked and killed his prey. Hector was dead! I went over and congratulated Bogie for the clean kill. You should have seen him. If he could beat on his chest, he would have! He pranced around picking up Hector's once alive body and throwing it at the ground, tail wagging like crazy. I could have sworn that Bogie asked for a beer and a cigarette... I know, I'm a Gecko murderer, so what? I justify it with selective culling!