jasper and chickens

Yesterday I took Jasper over to a friend's house for an afternoon party. They had a big backyard and I let him run around off leash most of the time. Towards the end of the party, I was playing with a friend and a little kid in the corner of the yard, near where Jasper was hanging out. Jasper had been pretty interested in the neighbor's yard all afternoon, and was spending most of his time by the neighbor's fence. I thought he was watching the kids next door play kickball...but it turns out there were actually chickens over there, hiding in their coop and not making a sound.

All of the sudden, I looked over to see Jasper squirming under the fence. Next thing I knew, there were chickens and feathers everywhere and Jasper was tackling chickens. I ran into the chicken pen--luckily there was a gate that I could open--and chased him around screaming at him to sit. I eventually caught him, covered in feathers and chicken poop. And luckily the chickens were all fine. Needless to say, Jasper was in the doghouse after than. However, in a weird way I was also kind of proud of him. Seeing him use his natural instincts is pretty cool. After the incident I did some reading about Earthdog, which is an event for certain types of terriers to track rodents underground. It seems like something Jasper could be a champion at, so I'm definitely going to check it out soon!!