Gibby was a huge disappointment

I was so disappointed this morning. I went down to the farm to be sure Gibby was okay after his adventure yesterday, and I found he had killed one of the young cats. It was one of the two cats who did not run away from him, a mottled brown and orange and black youngster. I won't go into detail about how I know Gibby did it, but I have no doubt.

I found the cat before I let Gibby out of the pen, so I didn't let him out. I carried the body over to the dog pen, put it right in front of the spot in the fence where Gibby stands and barks when he wants me to hurry and let him out. I told him he was a bad dog for killing the cat, he looked at the cat, looked closer, ducked his head and looked up at me. He sat and stopped barking. I left the body there.

Back again in the afternoon, Gibby barked and I told him he was still a bad dog. He stopped barking. He was quiet when I went to the pen with his canned food. He was his usual dancing self while I was opening the gate, but I told him to back up and he did - no joyful bounding out of the gate. I carried his food over to his bowl without petting him. Then I filled his water bucket and left the pen to get a new bag of dry dog food. I brought that back and filled the free feeder - all without petting him.

Mother was quite upset with me. She was sure I was being too harsh, especially after I refused to give him the hamburger and french fries she had saved from lunch for him. She said I have to let him know I still love him, but I'm thinking I'm showing him I love him by trying to teach him how to be a good dog. If he would leave the cats alone when I'm not around, he could have so much more freedom. Also, he's going to be pretty upset for the next couple months. Now that I know he might run off into the woods and get shot by a trespassing hunter, I'm going to have to go back to keeping him on a cable. I'm not happy about that at all, and I'm sure Gibby is going to be miserable.

I posted a photo of my mother and George just to show how much she spoils my dogs - and they worship her. I watched the two of them communing for almost half an hour before I took this photo. George rests his head in her lap and just stares at her. George is her favorite, but Gibby is becoming a fast second.