Tiny Terrier Plucked from the Talons of Death

OTTAWA—A tiny Yorkshire Terrier was almost a late night feast when he was attacked by a determined owl last week.

Caillou, a 3-year-old male weighing about 1.6 kilograms, was on the backyard veranda of the home in nearby Rockland he shares with owners Josee Brennan and Jean Lamoureux at about 11.30 p.m.

"We put him outside every night before bedtime," says Brennan.

"Luckily, my partner was watching through the window or else I think the dog would have been gone. He saw this shadow come down, and — it was snowing — he just went outside barefoot and grabbed this thing and started shaking it.

"The dog was under its talons. Jean kept shaking it, and the dog got free. Caillou came back inside ... just soaked in blood. A few seconds later I guess there would have been no dog. It was quite a terrible scene."

Caillou "shivered throughout the night," but a vet said he didn't need stitches in a puncture wound on his neck.

Bird expert Bruce Di Labio examined feathers at the scene and believes the culprit was a great horned owl.

"They'll go after skunks and other prey," he said.

CANADIAN PRESS

upon reading this i was torn between two thoughts. a) i have an affinity for yorkshire terriers, as it was the second dog i've ever played with (but had the common sense to not kiss this one on the nose and get a lip infection like the first time) and they're just about the cutest of dogs, with their highlighted hair and moustaches. like little overtestosteroned korean girls. b) i've been particularly drawn to birds of prey ever since grade three when we did a unit study of birds and i sketched a plastic great horned owl that sat on my teacher's (teacher of the year 1995?) desk. Owls are the real silent killers, not high blood pressure. if you've lost a loved one to heart disease via HBP, apologies. the only way they could've died any quieter would've been death by great horned owl.

so should i gush with pity for the poor doggiewoggie and extol his heroic owner for freeing him from the deadly clutches of a downy assassin of the night? or crow with admiration for a bird that tried to snag a whole dog for dinner? [b] predates (occurs before, not eats) [a] by 2 years so i leaned about 85% towards [b]. plus, i believe that anything named Calliou deserves it.