Thursday, November 30, 2006

Low on Good Dogs


We've had a string of really nice, worthless farm dogs. Andy started visiting here as about an 8 month old pup. He belonged to the neighbors. He resembled a yellow lab but as is the case with all of our farm dogs, he was a mixed breed. His head looked just like a polar bear. The neighbors named him 'Bear'. Bear wouldn't stay home and kept coming to our place. This started about one day after I had told Marilyn that I thought it was about time to start breaking another dog. Our last one was getting old.
We kept calling the neighbors to report that their dog was here and they would keep coming over with the pickup to get him. On the last trip over the neighbor said "Do you want that @#$% dog, he seems to like it here? Without hesitation I said "yeah, I guess he can stay."
We renamed him Andy and he turned out to be the perfect farm dog. He kept his feet on the ground, loved people, and hated racoons and skunks. And we were able to break him of running the cats. (that would be okay with me except the cats keep the rats and mice under control)
He won the Ne State Fair Novice Obedience class with son Tom at the other end of the leash. The silly dog wouldn't work off leash however, and so that's as far as he went. The next level in 4-H is off leash.
Andy loved to ride in our van. He didn't care for it unless he was in a crate. We had a deal there. We don't let dogs ride in our van (we're in the kennel business remember) unless they're in a crate.
The reason I write this is to tell you of this incident. We had the side door open on the van. Just inside the door sat a small cat crate. The crate was so small that a football would have just about filled it. Andy saw his opportunity to go for a ride. All of the stars were in proper alignment for him. The van door was open, the crate sat there on the edge with it's door open and he decided to jump. That's when we realized he was not a good judge of space. Someone yelled "LOOK". We all turned to see Andy with his two back feet on the ground, and his two front paws and his head, filling the crate in the van. You could tell he was hopeful that this was good enough and that we hadn't noticed that he wasn't all the way in.
Right here you're asking what did we do?? Well we did what any farmer would do. We put a large crate in the van and took him for a ride. We didn't want him to be embarrassed.

14 comments:

Ralph said...

Cliff
It's times like that you need to have a digital camera in your pocket. That would have made one funny picture.
But, judging by Tom's being in the picture it was a few years before digital cameras.
Ralph

EV said...

I just love a great dog! You've got one - it seems a good buddy, too.

EV said...

Oh, BTW it's 24 degrees here and we're in the midst of an ice storm. Seeing that your temperatures are running from the twenties to the single digits, that's no big deal. BUT - it was 80 here yesterday! And today crunchy grass - just like Cliff's. :)

Anonymous said...

A good dogs tail Cliff.

eyes_only4him said...

I think I love Andy..

oh and I see Mike saying its 24 there..its 7 here..can u top that?..

Rachel said...

Great story Cliff!! Andy does kind of have a head like a polar bear! Pretty dogs, both of them.

You are very sweet to save Andy any embarrassment! That was a Kodak moment for certain!!

Rachel said...

I just read your comment on Jim's blog. A shik-poke!! My cousin's grandma used to call her that when she was a kid. I just thought it meant tall and skinny!!

Hadn't heard that word until now!! LOL

PinkCat said...

A very cute post Cliff. I love dogs but I don't like their hair and their slobber on my floors.

I don't take very good photos Cliff. LOL

Take care xx

1 plus twins said...

too damn cute!! that would have a made a great picture. that was so caring of you to think of his feeelings. lol looks like we all had dogs on our brains. you, jaye and i all posted about dogs. lol hope your keeping warm.

Paul Nichols said...

I think God created dogs to prove to us that there is one other creature dumber than us. I'm just sayin'...

Jim said...

Cliff, you have a good, big, heart!

Your dogs must all love you for it. Keep up the good work.
..

Anonymous said...

Cliff,
It must be true what they say. Pigs are smarter than dogs. But at least he's a happy dog in a good home.

Rhodent said...

What a great dog! Love the story!

Anonymous said...

Awwww-This doggy lover wants to reach through the screen and pet him.