|
Each day, we walked
in the woods of our farm--my dog and me.
There was a purpose to our
walks.
We were tromping amongst
the trees in search of dairy cattle. We needed to fetch the
cows for the purpose of milking them.
The cows would try to get
as far away from the barn as possible. Then they would try
to hide from the boy and the dog that were in dogged (and
boyyed) pursuit of the herd.
For large mammals, cows
are very skilled at making themselves invisible. It could
take some time to find the cows.
It became a big game of
hide-and-seek as the bovines found hiding places in the
woods, sloughs, hills and hollows that masqueraded as our
farm.
The cows were very good at
this game.
It could make for
frustrating moments.
It wasn??™t a shining moment
in a man??™s life to be out-smarted by a herd of
cattle--again.
This is where having a
good cattle dog really paid off. With a simple order of
???Sic ???em!??? the dog would find the cattle and chase them
towards the barn. A good dog saved a farmer a lot of steps.
My dog loved her job and
was a conscientious worker. She took her job very
seriously. Nothing got in the way of her and her effort to
track down the milk cows.
Well, there was something
that got in the way. That something was a rabbit.
Evidently, my dog was put
on the earth to chase rabbits.
She was a rabbit dog first
and a cattle dog second.
Once a rabbit was sighted,
my dog forgot all about the cows and took off chasing the
bunny.
She thought that the only
proper response to something that appeared to be running
from her was to chase it.
She was a good cattle dog,
so we overlooked her little peccadillo.
When my dog grew old, she
was not so ardent in her pursuit of bunnies. Oh, she still
wanted to chase them, but she had lost the youthful energy
required to carry out the act. She had been reduced to a
short run and a couple of winded barks. I think she still
drew joy in seeing the frightened rabbits run.
One day, my dog and I were
walking in the woods. She had reached the age where she was
content to walk behind me without needing to be told to
heel.
The cows had just come
into sight when a rabbit ran across our path.
My dog let out a ???woof???
and took a few measured steps in the direction of the
scurrying bunny.
Then an odd thing
happened.
As my dog and I watched,
the retreating rabbit ran right into a tree stump. It hit
the stump hard. So hard, that the collision resulted in one
dead rabbit. I??™m not sure why the rabbit didn??™t see the
tree--bad eyesight (maybe it was not eating enough carrots),
uncontrollable fear or it just wasn??™t paying attention.
Now I??™ve never walked into
a stump, but I have walked into a patio door that I thought
was open. I hit the glass of the door a good shot with my
face. It surprised me and it hurt like the dickens. There
was quite a crowd on the deck watching me walk into the
door. There is a law that says you cannot make a fool out
of yourself unless there is a crowd gathered. I have walked
into a big spider web and let out a yell while flailing at
the web. After freeing myself from the spider??™s work, I
noticed people watching me. They saw me acting like a nut,
but they didn??™t see the spider web that I was struggling
with. If I was the type to be embarrassed, I would have
been. So even though I have never run directly into a tree
stump, I understand how that kind of thing could happen.
My dog had no trouble
believing her good fortune. I think dogs expect the best.
Dogs are optimistic because they know that there is no point
in being anything else. My aged dog caught a rabbit that
day--with the help of that rabbit-killing stump.
For the rest of her life,
whenever my dog and I walked in the woods searching for
cows, my dog needed to make one very important stop.
She would sit for a couple
of minutes and look at that stump. Just in case another
rabbit happened to run into it.
?©Al Batt 2004
71622 325 St.
Hartland, MN 56042
SnoEowl@aol.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To read archived stories, click on this link:
http://archives.zinester.com/9516/2004
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blessings to you today
Bob Johnston
|
