Antelope Tag

The antelope love my puppy.

I don't know if they think she's a strange little antelope fawn or she smells good to them, but they LOVE her.

She's the same color they are and has a fluffy white rear end that must look a lot like theirs when they are alarmed....perhaps that's it.

Last week, I was watching a movie with the kids when I noticed this group of antelope circling our yard.  They weren't trying to get in, I could tell, but they were behaving very oddly, so I went outside to see what was going on.

They were trying to play with Tessie!

Almost a game of antelope tag or something...

Here she is, wary and unsure...

They'd get as close as they could to the barb wire fence (completely unafraid of me)...

...then run in a small circle...

...and then return to try to get Tessie to join them.  See the buck's head down?  He's not alarmed at all.  That's a friendly look for them.

She feels threatened, though, and is protective of me...curled lip, ready to bark if they get closer.

And they tried on the other side of the yard with the same tactic; tease, tight circle run, return to tease.
It was fascinating and charming!

When the kids and I got home from the school field trip this Friday, the Farmer told us that he'd found twin antelope fawns in the fields by our house, so new that they were still wet.  I'm guessing that the games are finished, now, for the rest of the summer!