“A Dog and His Boy”
I have always been an animal lover to the point I was French kissed by my yellow lab who could lick the bottom of a 40 oz. peanut butter jar. I have had many very special K-9 friends from Duke, the collie to Moose the bull-mastiff.
I grew up on a ranch in North Dakota. Every morning Duke would round up the milk cows and by 5 a.m. they were in the barn, each in its stall ready for milking. It was a large ranch but the milk cows never grazed beyond the creek. Duke loved to play ball and run alongside the horses during branding season. Duke had come to live with us as a side-kick of one of the hired hands.
One day Mom called us in for breakfast, I jumped off my peddle John Deere tractor and ran for the house. As I jumped the stairs to the back porch, I heard a loud crash and a yelp. Duke had ran into my tractor. I turned and called him and he slowly approached the back stairs and climbed up. Giles, Dukes owner, cautioned me not to leave my toys scattered around the yard. “Duke is blind,” he said.
When I met Marie she had a dog named Bailey. He was a beautiful Golden and accepted me as part of the family. One day Marie tripped and fell cutting her leg quite badly. Bailey came to her side and stood there stiff legged while Marie, using him as support, got to her feet. It was a sad day in our family when he passed.
Now we have two of our daughter’s dogs, Koffee and Moose. Koffee is a born hunter. He comes home nearly every morning with a large turtle in his mouth. He never harms them, just buries them and is dumbfounded when they are not there the next day. Moose on the other hand is a lovable slobberer. We have had stalactites hanging from our ceiling fans and stalagmites that will send you slipping across the floor. We’ve tried putting a bib on him, but minutes later it becomes a cape and he transforms into Super Dog. I’m not sure but possibly that’s how the slobber gets on the fans.
Life is just more pleasant when shared in the company of dogs.