Finn, our gecko slayer

This recent flareup with my neck/shoulder has run its course and I'm happy to say I've returned to my regularly scheduled programming. That includes giving our house a good weekly cleaning, which entails a full vacuum and mop of the floors. When I went to run my mop beneath the entry hall console table recently, a gecko skittered out. I'd like to tell you I didn't shriek like a little girl, but that would be a big fat lie. Little man Finn, our intrepid hunter, raced into the entry on high alert. Sure enough, he found the gecko under the edge of the rug, scooped him up in his mouth and raced away from me when I shrieked again. After some chastising and mop waving, he finally dropped his gecko trophy onto the floor in the kitchen.

RIP Sir Gecko

That's where the fun continued. The gecko dropped its tail, which was flopping around on the floor. This gave me a serious case of the heebie jeebies. The poor stunned gecko hustled beneath the refrigerator while Finn was entranced by the twitching tail. I was still carting around the mop at this point. I used it to cover the writhing tail to keep Finn at bay so I could go get the broom and dustpan to sweep up the lost appendage and toss it in the trash can. Finn soon shifted his focus and began snuffling around the fridge, hoping the traumatized, tail-less gecko would reappear.

This wasn't Finn's first rodeo with geckos. An avid lizard hunter at our hill country house, he was gleeful when he discovered a bountiful nocturnal gecko population at the lake. Every evening when I take them out on their leashes in the front yard for a final potty break, Finn is on patrol for any geckos around the garages and sidewalk where they tend to gather. He has already killed several before I could haul him away. I know this instinct to chase prey, even little reptiles, is an inherent cairn trait. It's entertaining when he's treeing squirrels he'll never be able to catch. But these poor geckos just don't stand a fighting chance against his terrier hunting skills. 

PS - After I did a rough draft of this post, Finn killed three more at the lake before we drove back to the hill country house for the holiday weekend. Then last night he killed a hill country gecko that made the error of zipping in the front door when I opened it.