Least,
You never fail to bring a mist and a smile to the eyes of a tough old retired military man. Maggie and Skylar have gotten me through some tough times, and I them. Yesterday we were doing one of our long walks on out paths here just before I cut the grass for several hours. When Skylar and Maggie ran around the back of the burn pile and started whining. There was a humongous Snapping turtle there in out yard that was trying to get to our oxidation pond. He had a head the size of a coke bottle and had about a 15 inch long shell that was almost as wide. I warned Maggie off and she backed away and Skylar was sniffing too close and I got him away just after it started to square off with him to bite. Here is a video that shows on the same size, and this was a small one like the one in the video:
Man vs. Snapping Turtle - YouTube
Skylar got his nose too close, but I called him off just in time and we did a quick walk and they looked at it on the way back from 20 feet away but went inside with me. I went back out and took some pics and it hissed and snapped at me as in the video. I put my foot on him or her and I could not believe how aggressive it was. I have handled them before but this one was so agitated that I decided not to pick it up not out of fear but because I didn't want to stress the animal too much. It was difficult to get behind it because it was really fast and kept trying to face me heads on.
Anyway it was a close call but Sky and Maggie both backed up when I gave the "out" command and avoided a nasty nose bite that would have been very nasty.
Those storms passed us by and did not rain as they went over us down here. Although they looked like they would early in the day.