Critter Control With Terriers

Sadie the terrier helps ferret out critters
4/4/2005, By Cheryl Wade, The Associated Press


MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) - When Sadie the Jack Russell terrier sniffs out a raccoon or a squirrel, the calm, sweet-natured dog turns into what her owner describes as a wild animal.

Sadie, 4 1/2, has ridden in Mike Corlew's Critter Control truck every work day since she was six weeks old. Corlew, who lives in Midland County, figures she's logged more than 200,000 miles as he roams over 9 1/3 counties seeking and catching raccoons, opossums, squirrels and stinging insects that are messing up humans' home lives.

Most of the time, she lies in Corlew's lap, her head on the truck's arm rest, staring out the window. But when she sees a critter, her personality becomes that of an alligator, Corlew said. She grabs onto the pesky animal and won't let go until Corlew says "leave it!"

"As soon as she sees it and identifies it, she's gone," he said.

Corlew has owned his Critter Control franchise almost seven years. He'd wanted a Jack Russell for a long time, but he'd heard they were hyperactive and barked all the time not his speed. Then, he heard of a man in Kalamazoo who raised the animals from English stock. Sadie, whom he bought from the man, proved to be calm, well-behaved and fond of children.

Before Corlew puts Sadie to work at someone's home, he first asks the person if it's OK. Sometimes the person is apprehensive at first. But after doing a few tricks for children if any are around, Sadie's "strictly business" when she's on assignment; she doesn't take time to hang out much with the humans.

Sadie's defining moment came when she was 6 1/2 months old. In one day, she sniffed out two adult raccoons, each with a litter in attics. At the first whiff of the raccoon, she was after it, Corlew said.

Once, she nabbed an opossum behind a washing machine in a home.

Elvis, a Jack Russell who's 2 1/2, and belongs to Corlew's son, comes along for the ride many times. But he's less calm and, although he's good at digging moles out of people's backyards, he's not much good inside customers' homes.

But when Sadie catches a critter, Elvis gets a cheeseburger from Burger King or McDonald's, just like Sadie does.

Corlew's seen some strange situations on his job. Once, he threw a tarpaulin over a snow owl who'd taken up residence among the logs in a woman's fireplace. The woman had had the feeling someone was peering at her from a window, but the eyes turned out to be the owl's.

"I reached down and grabbed him above the talons, so he couldn't sink them into my hand," Corlew said. "We just took him outside and released him."

Another time, while Corlew was lying on his side checking a fireplace, a red squirrel jumped off the damper and landed inside his shirt. A very startled Corlew let out a yell, jumped up and ran outside. But he still took care to hold the top of his shirt closed so the animal wouldn't escape.

"He never bit me, but he scratched me up pretty good," he said