Psycho Bambi...out of control

Last night topped the Psycho Bambi saga...

Let's begin three weeks ago. I was on the deck with the dogs, and there was a deer right by the stairs to the deck. Fairly standard is for the dogs to run off the deck barking, scare the deer, and come back. I don't mind them doing this because it mostly keeps the deer away from our yard. Until that Friday... The deer was standing at the base of the stairs stomping its leg and breathing with a warning. Of course, the dogs thought it was an invitation to do their thing. Off they went down the stairs, and then madness ensued. The deer stood on its back legs and kicked Flyer at his stomach and he went crashing to the ground. He got up and flew back onto the deck, shaken up and shocked. Then the deer went after Daisy and did the same thing. The only problem was that Daisy didn't get up as quickly and the deer went back for more. Daisy finally got up and ran back to the deck. IT WAS CRAZY! All of a sudden we were trapped on the deck with a deer in charge...seriously?!?!

Fast forward to the next few days when my dogs would no longer get off the deck without adult/human supervision, and get this the deer was still there and in charge. What we figured was that the deer had a fawn in the woods behind our house that she was protecting.

Fast forward another week: the deer is STILL in our yard, and Flyer is still scared. One day Flyer was out in the front yard, and I asked Paul to open the front door and let him in. Paul came in laughing because Flyer came charging in the house with the deer chasing him from across the street. This was really starting to get ridiculous.

All of this time, the deer would actually run off when we would yell, shoot (with a pellet gun), or throw water on it...but would never run away from the dogs. We couldn't decide if the deer was angry, protective, or wanted to move in.

As these weeks have passed, we have kind of worked out a system. I walk out with the dogs, run them elsewhere, or just hope for the best. But last night really was outragous!

A few days ago I had put Flyer's food out, he and Daisy eat on the deck, and shortly after when I knew he hadn't eaten I asked Paul what happened to his food. Paul didn't have an answer...so strange, maybe Daisy ate it when we weren't looking? Well I got my answer last night...

I put dinner out for Flyer and Daisy. Daisy ate hers immediately. Flyer, as usual, didn't eat right away. As I was on the phone, I saw them both standing at the sliding door just watching. I saw psycho bambi at the bottom of the stairs. Before I could scream, psycho bambi is CLIMBING THE STAIRS TO OUR DECK! Then, psycho bambi started eating Flyer's food. In disbelief, all I could do was take pictures and stare. Is this really happening?? Oh yes it was...

After the bowl of food was empty she went down the stairs as though nothing had happened. I couldn't figure out for the life of me how this ended up like this, until later. I have a freaking Pavlov experiment playing out in my backyard:

- when Paul got home, I decided to feed Flyer the dinner he missed. I poured his dry food into the metal bowl on the deck. Guess who appeared... The deer has conditioned itself to appear when the food is poured; really just crazy.

- when the deer appears the dogs are now conditioned to run to the door; apparently my new invisible fence

- question is: what happens next in the crazy experiment??

Ahhh, the entertainment of wildlife...

mer