Some dogs I have known

01/24/06

Some Dogs I Have Known

One of my coworkers was talking about his 2 border collies last week and I have been thinking about dogs. Nancy and the kids will not find it unusual, as they think there is some link between our canine cousins and me. Speculation at our house is, in one of my previous lives, I was a dog. Sometimes I tell our dog Shooter he would have to increase in value to be worthless. His reward for this observation consists of trying to lick my beard. Dogs always seem to like me, even strange ones. It is worth mentioning that sometimes at home I am referred to by the pet name of D. Dog (short for daddy dog I think).

A few years ago we were walking through the airport in Newark, New Jersey when we saw the security dog coming towards us with his very own airport security man in tow. I have no idea if this was the bomb sniffing dog or the drug sniffing dog. Anyway, we were stopped for a minute before going through the metal detector. The dog stopped looked at us, licked my hand, and then continued on his mission (whatever it was). Something similar to this has happened many times over the years.

I don’t have very many clear memories of my maternal grandfather, Ben Wann. He lived in the rock house on the old home place in Paluxy where cousin Mickey now resides. Many of you probably, also know that it was he who accumulated most of the land now in our extended family. He died the year I turned 9 and although there aren’t very memories, quite a few of the ones I have include his 2 border collies.

Mischief and Rica were the dogs. Rica was a female several years older than Mischief. I remember the dogs helping herd Grandpa’s goats and cows. But, what I remember most is when grandpa would take them hunting. Never have I seen dogs so excited as when Grandpa would walk outside with his 22 cal rifle, ready to hunt raccoons, possums or squirrels. The dogs would start jumping, barking and running in whatever direction the gun was pointed.

Although I was only 8 years old, I got to go with grandpa a few times when he would walk the river bottoms at night with the 2 dogs and his rifle. Walking with Grandpa and the dogs along the river with a flashlight on a cool moonless starlit night when you are 8 years old is about as good as it gets. And the dogs were on a mission to help him rid the world of all would be varmints.

Although I have had several loyal dogs over the years, don't think any of mine were as devoted to me as Mischief and Rica were to Grandpa.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mom

Smells of Summer

20 years BC