The Dog Who Saw Frightening Creatures

I've already done my story for National Dog Day, but I started thinking about another dog and just had to share him, too.

After our son, Jim, married, he called and asked us to come visit them (two hours away) as he had something to show us. On the way up there, my husband, who makes no claims to being a dreamer or psychic or any such thing, told me he knew what Jim was going to show us. It was a dog, a black one, and probably a lab, as Jim had always wanted one.

He said he had dreamed that we arrived at Jim's house to be greeted by a large black lab walking on his hind legs like a human. The dog reached in his "pocket" which was apparently a fold of skin, and produced a gun.

When we arrived, Jim rushed out to meet us with his prize, a black lab puppy. "His name is Shooter," he said. That had not been his choice, as the dog's name on his papers was, "Shooshay's Little Shooter." But considering the dream and Jim's love of hunting, it seemed quite appropriate, as well as ironic.

Jim started Shooter's education early on, teaching him to fetch, stay, etc. One day we went along when he took him out to the lake. He first threw into the lake the "bumper," a long, cylindrical, canvas covered object, he was using for Shooter to fetch, and Shooter immediately retrieved it. Then Jim threw it onto a dirt road near the lake.

When Shooter reached the bumper, he gingerly used his teeth to pick it up by the short cord attached to the end. It was obvious it was coated with dust from having been wet, then rolled in the dirt. Instead of taking it directly to Jim, he carried it into the water where he shook it around in the water, washing the dust off it. Then he carried it to Jim.

Jim also showed us how he avoided getting wet when the dog shook himself off after coming out of the water. When Shooter came up on the bank, Jim yelled for him to "stay," then he said, "Shake," and Shooter would do his shaking before approaching Jim.

Jim also had a black cat that was mostly a house cat. But sometimes he would let the cat go out in the yard with Shooter and tell Shooter to watch him. If the cat made any indication of leaving the yard, Shooter would herd him back towards the house.

One of the funniest incidents I remember about the dog happened after I had brought a load of poop from circus animals home. The president of the Kiwanis club had run an ad in the local paper inviting someone to claim the "fertilizer" left behind by elephants, camels, etc. after the circus had left town. A couple of weeks later, I happened to make some comment about it, and she said no one had shown any interest in it, so it was still where it had been left.

Thinking it might be interesting to see how such a novelty might perform as fertilizer for my garden, I asked if she wanted me to pick it up. Of course she was glad to get rid of it. So I took the truck up there, loaded up the "fertilizer," brought it home, and unloaded it in the back of our long back yard, away from the house. Since it was autumn and I didn't plan to use it till Spring, I covered it with a piece of plastic and left it to "season."

Not long afterwards, Jim and his wife visited, bringing along Shooter, who was almost grown by then. Jim put him in the back yard, which was fenced. He barked all night long, not a bored bark, but a frightened one. No one had any idea what he was barking at. Jim took a light and went out to check, but could find nothing to be concerned about.

The next morning I was the first one up. I looked out the window just in time to see Shooter warily circling the plastic-covered manure pile. He gradually crept closer to the pile, then finally stuck his nose near the plastic, and let out a terrified howl before retreating hastily to the other end of the yard.

I could just see the little mental pictures floating above his head, as he envisioned all kinds of strange and terrifying animals that had left their scent behind. It was obvious that he had never met an elephant, camel, or any of the other strange animals before.

Shooter lived a long and interesting life. He won first prize in all the field trials Jim ever entered him in. Unfortunately, there was only one. He also got his picture in a state magazine, swimming with a duck in his mouth. But he was mainly a treasured member of Jim's family till time took him away. None of us will ever forget him.