Cute reptile

Today I was on my daily longer walk with the dogs and I was throwing them sticks down by the Pecan grove. Barak likes to run after it, but always gives up, either because Goshen simply will not let him take the stick, or because it is too hard to find in the high vegetation. Goshen, on the other hand, is more persistent and uses her nose, and most of the time she is successful, however, for some reason it is easier for her to locate rocks. She always had a fetish for rocks. Anyway, today she was searching for a stick and I could see that she was digging about with her nose on the exact spot where I saw the stick land, so I was a bit puzzled that she did not just retrieve it to me. I encouraged her and she worked and worked there down in the high grass and suddenly she came running back to me with something more looking like a rock in her mouth. When she let go in my hand I saw that it was a Tortoise, most likely a Spur-thiged Tortoise. Understandably it had its head and limbs safely pulled inside of the shell. Typically, I did not have my camera with me today, but he was a cute little critter and I put him back in the grass and moved on with my two very reluctant dogs.