The dog and the toad friendship

We have a few dogs here at camp and they have a ton of freedom very rarely afforded to dogs in the west, or as is now en vogue to say, the global north. Our camp dogs roam free in an area of about 50,000 square meters or 12 acres. There are a few different structures scattered throughout our property but the area has a lot of wild spaces with trees, shrubs and grasses. The area surrounding us is sparsely populated with the majority of disturbed areas being fields and farms. As a result we did a significant amount of boundary training with the dogs when they were young to ensure that they could lead a life of freedom in adulthood. 

The dogs are great at barking at intruders such as bush pigs, kudu, and the occasional lion, but they are frankly very cowardly dogs. When they were young we initially had them sleeping in a large enclosure. One night a hedgehog roamed into their territory and they were petrified. They were so traumatized that the next day they didn't want to go back in! They were also terrified of a leopard tortoise the first time they saw one, much to my amusement. 

Over the years they've gotten to recognize friend from foe and although they are still cautious they are no longer terrified at every single thing. In fact, they've been able to forge friendships that I would have initially never thought possible. 

One of the more common critters in the dry season are toads. Specifically, the species named guttural toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis) are most common here. They are experts at digging shallow holes during the day and at night finding water sources to wallow in. They're one of those creatures that's kind of always around no matter the time of year. They show up in the bird baths, the residue from our bathing water, and any other random pool of water that happens to form. 

Toad in the day burrow

We recently bought a bowl for the dogs to drink water at our banda. We should have known but when we put it out the toads immediately began to gather in the night. Perhaps they liked the bowl's dimensions or the clean water but for whatever reason, we saw a concentration of toads that we had never previously seen. At one point there were five toads in the bowl with others lurking in the background. It was a little alarming to walk by and have them all simultaneously scatter. 

We wondered what the dogs would think and it turns out they don't really care. They initially looked at the toads with amusement but then later chose to dismiss them. It even reached the point where the toads would remain in the bowl while the dogs drank, though I'm not entirely sure if that's based on familiarity or a lack of awareness from our occasionally dopey dogs.

The good life, from a toads point of view.

The toads began to make themselves at home, spending more and more time on our veranda/patio space. Once again, the dogs were initially curious but then ignored them. It reached the point where the toads would potter around and literally on top of the dogs while they were sleeping. Sometimes the dogs will pop their heads up seemingly startled, only to see the toads and give a kind of, "Oh, just these guys" look before settling back down to sleep.

The toad is using him as a pillow.