Green and mean

The dog knows to maintain a safe distance from this one. 

This morning the dog and I walked down to the west end of the dirt road.  The morning was pleasant and walking was easy.  When we arrived at the end of the road I went to one side where I was looking at some Brazilian Pepper growing there.  The dog was behind me on the other side of the road.  I heard him give out a little yelp which usually indicated he had found something.  When I turned around I could see he was looking at something on the ground but whatever it was it was not apparent to me until I crossed the road and nearly stepped on it.  It was a small snapping turtle.  It was about a foot long and was covered with green algae which camouflaged it on the ground. Every thing here has some kind of algae on it now so the turtle was hard to see.  When I spotted it and came over to take a look the dog settled down and would not get any closer than a couple of feet.  He has had it in with a much larger version before and came out on the losing end so he was not about to get in to it with this one.  Don't get me wrong, the dog loves turtles just not the kind that can bite your tongue off.   He often finds box turtles in the brush which he scoops up in his mouth and immediately heads home with.  I have to chase him down and take them away from him because he will eventually bite a hole in the turtle's shell which will kill it.  The only time the dog ever bit me was when he was trying to get a box turtle back that I had taken away.  I have to trick him by picking up a pine cone or stick and rubbing it on the turtle.  I throw the stick on one side of the road and when he chases it I throw the box turtle on the other.   I have probably had to do this with about 30 turtles since I have had the dog so I have gotten pretty good at the turtle trick.   Thanks for coming by.  Have a great day.