Puppy Eggs

Can you believe that dogs love to eat raw chicken eggs?  I guess it isn't that surprising.  At Deauville, it is a tradition.  Sam and Cinder get this reward for their work in the chicken houses.

One of the great sequences I think I got for the film this past weekend was Sam and Cinder doing their ratting work.  These days (because there are quite a few rats) they can't wait to get inside the chicken yards, and they immediately get to work, trying to startle a rat or mouse so that it makes a fatal mistake. They focus, nearly obsessively, on the rafters of the house, attempting to capture a rat using sheer, determined will.

Once Gail finishes her morning routine feeding and watering the birds, she usually picks up a rake and starts banging on the walls of the chicken house.  The rats run and sometimes scramble to the ground where these feisty hunters await.  One bite and they kill the rat, drop it on the ground, and focus on getting another.  It's just amazing to watch.  Dust flying everywhere, Gail banging and yelling "over here girls...here's another one!!!", and through all this excitement, perhaps the funniest thing is that the chickens just happily go about their business, disturbed not in the least.

The problem with rats in the chicken house is that they compete fiercely with the hens for the expensive organic chicken feed that Gail provides. As Gail yelled to me over the commotion, "I refuse to claim rats as dependents on my tax return, too!!!"

So, after the dust settled, I shot a lovely interview with Gail as she sat on the steps of Chicken House #2 (where the new birds live).  Sam is still hard at work in the background.  During the entire interview, she's sitting just behind Gail's shoulder, nose pointed at the ceiling, fixated on the rafters.  Her concentration is extraordinary.  Every so often she casts a sideways glance at Gail, though, as if to say "Boss... can't you see?  We've still got work to do here!"