Story #1: Several years ago when my (Raquey's) youngest son, Brad, was visiting us, we caught a wild mouse that was loose in our house and probably, against our better judgment, we kept him. We named him Ralph. He got loose one day and we were unable to chase him down. Later, we were sitting at the table eating dinner and our big, black German Shepherd, Bo (this was before Baby) saw Ralph scampering across the kitchen floor. Like a bolt of lightning Bo went after Ralph, caught him and was standing there, Ralph dangling from his mouth by his tail. We hollered, Bo dropped the mouse and Ralph went back into hiding. We found Ralph later and, lo and behold, Ralph had a crimp in his tail from where Bo had caught him.
Story #2: Where we are staying is an old dog named Rodeo. Last year when we were here we met Rodeo. He's a mild-mannered, well-mannered dog that follows his owners around and stops for petting from the folks staying at our RV campground. This year when we returned, he seemed a little older, a little slower and we were told that he had gone deaf. Well, the other evening we saw our local fox take off across the property and you wouldn't have known that Rodeo was old, slow or deaf. He took off after that fox like a bullet. Probably had to sleep for hours after that to recover, but he had the adrenaline when he needed it.
BY Dick and Raquey
Story # 3: I will give you another story to convey when people can't understand the instincts of dogs and devise a list of things they would do to fix the natural result of dog vs. mouse.
I was a teenager in a house my father built just outside of Chicago. It was spring and I was helping to remove two bales of straw that Dad placed against the sewer drain pipe last fall. The purpose of the straw was to protect the above ground pipe from freezing through the winter. Our backyard was open lawn except for a wheelbarrow five or six feet from the drainpipe, and my mom and dad who were standing 30 feet from the site of the upcoming event.
Shadow was one of three Chinese Pug dogs that my parents owned and I grew up with. I don't know what the Pug is famous for but I don't think it is a mouser with a cute flat nose. Shadow was getting old and showed his age. He was meandering around my parents as he often did with nothing on his mind, I'm sure. I lifted the top straw bale into the wheelbarrow and then reached for the second, laying on the grass. A nest of mice, at least ten, were startled when their tenement rose straight up into the air. They took off in every direction, like spokes on half a wheel. In an instant Shadow was on the move. He had the instincts of a cow pony herding doggies at a rodeo competition. One by one he stopped the mice. He shook the first, dropped him and moved like a flash to the next, repeating the routine. I do not remember one mouse escaping. It was all over in maybe 15 seconds. When Shadow decided it was over, he moved back over the field, he stopped at every casualty, inspected it and confidently moved on. His memory was marvelous because he traced his earlier battle precisely in the same order.
The Pug was domesticated over 3500 years ago. During that time, the breed has become known as a strong companion to human families and a brave protector. Shadow's instincts came to life instantaneously. This makes me confident that human instinct is in all of us and we should not work too hard to suppress it. We need instead to recognize when those instincts are needed.
Mom, Dad and I were all proud of the little black legionnaire. Dad broke the silence with, "I've always wanted a hunting dog. How do you think he'd do during pheasant season?"
BY Phil K.
No comments:
Post a Comment