Friday, January 21, 2005

Farm Dogs

I read Marty's post about his dog. It got me to thinking about what makes a good farm dog. At least for me. Number one and foremost, they must have no intrinsic value. Yes, worthless. Ours always have been. They should never run off. That is easy for a farm dog to start. They must be friendly, curious, and keep their feet on the ground around people and cars. It's nice if they'll come up to greet you on your return home. Ours do, (we have two) but it's because when we go out to eat, our doggy bag is for the dog. You must have a good story about how you ended up with him. "We bought him" is not satisfactory. One of our most beloved dogs, kept running over here from the neighbors. I told Marilyn, "the neighbors pup is over here again, you know I think I'm ready to get another dog. Maybe a lab mix like the neighbors have". Just then Rick the neighbor drives in (we had called him about his dog) and asks, "you want that dog, he must like it here better than my place". "yeah, leave him".
He stayed here, never ran off, was friendly, performed at several 4-H dog shows {if he was on a leash} and was particularly worthless.
Andy was his name. About the most radical thing he ever did was in our shop. My brother was laying under the combine. He had both hands on wrenches, applying much pressure to a stubborn bolt when Andy walked over to him and licked him from back of his head, thru his ear, and past his eyes to his forehead. One, quick, lick. Ed called him something and it wasn't Andy, ....But it was accurate.
If Ed and I would be eating something out in the corn field during harvest, Andy would sit there and look at Ed. Ed would usually eat the sandwich, or about 3/4ths of it and then stare at Andy and with mock anger say, "Okay, here, eat it". It was always a mid air catch.
What makes a good dog for you?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

What makes a good farm dog?
1) Doesn't pull the towels off the clothes line shredding them in the process
2) Doesn't chew the garden hose into 12" pieces
3) Doesn't pull the Christmas lights off the house and then chew the cord into 12" pieces
4) Doesn't bite the NEW heavy-duty extension cord that's plugged into the tractor heater into 12" pieces
(I swear he had a built-in ruler)
5) When he does decide to leave the farm, he doesn't herd the goats with him
6) Really enjoys being in Farm Dog Heaven

Anonymous said...

1. I hope you are a blogger and that you'll let us know the address.
2. If you're not a blogger, you should be.
Thanks for reading. cliff

Anonymous said...

Just got a call from our son in Alaska saying he was once again reading your blogs and had read the comment on the farm dog and said it sure sounded like one that lived on our farm for a short time. Had to admit it was. Then he proceeded to remind me (I've tried to forget a lot about that dog) of one other thing that a good farm dog shouldn't do. He shouldn't hide in the often used, seldom cleaned-out stock trailer and wait until the neighbor comes to borrow it. Since husband and pick-up (on the farm we have both a pick-up and a truck and they are 2 different vehicles) are gone, wife has to go get the dog in her often used but just cleaned up van.
The memory of that dog has kept our kids in line tho. Just mentioning that if they didn't shape up they'd get a brother of sister of him straightened them right up.
The Alaskan says "HI" and wishes that his computer would let him comment on a lot of your blogs.
Keep up the good work. Our whole family loves them.

Cliff said...

The comments would be super, but I do appreciate him reading. Thanks for the note. Cliff

Susi said...

Cliff, We are in Mid VA, but dogs are the same! Our two yard Bird Dogs are 15 and we'll miss them one day. When they were young they taught a litter of fluffy Golden Retriever puppies how to herd and cut out guineas... and how to eat them! Bloody Fluff Balls. They've self hunted all their lives and have enjoyed this hunk of Dog Heaven. I pray there's a dog loving God, 'cause I want a heaven with dogs, cats, et al.

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