Tuck
Tuck was a German
shepherd / elk-hound cross mutt dog, I guess as some would say, but to me he was
a friend and one of the best dogs I had owned in my life. He would stay where I
put him, if it be in the pouring rain outside a bar on a dollar bet to just
telling him to stay, or the same on the side of the road till a car passed and
then forgetting to tell him to come and then look back to where I told him to
stay and see him still sitting there obeying. A simple,” Come her Tuck”, would
get him to my side in no time flat.
For this I would
give him privileges unexpected by other dogs, such as a run down a back country
road in southern Ohio as I would just poke along in my old pickup as he ran in
front of me. Sometimes we would go for miles up and down hollers as they say
down there without seeing a car or even a house at times. If he saw a groundhog,
he would immediately give chase, and sometimes he would get his prey. It was
all natural hunting and later on when times were bad for me and money was short,
Tuck would provide enough meat for himself and other dogs , just by hunting
like this. He was really good at spotting the groundhogs and they sometimes
never knew what was coming and sometimes farmers didn’t either.
One time I was
out with Tuck and I was out exercising him and he was maybe 30 feet in front of
me as I rounded a corner opening up to a nice little farm homestead complete
with a farmer sitting on the front porch of this quaint little perfect place, shining
in a green valley, it was a dreamy story and half white farmhouse with a nice
porch across the front, and this farmhouse stood in front of an old weathered
barn behind and a perfectly tended garden on the far side. Idyllic
to say the least it was on my right side and it was early spring with the grass
a bright shining green and the brilliance of the leaves shimmering in the cool
breeze, along with aromas of spring rejuvenated your soul from a hard winter
such as we had just had. .
I noticed the
old farmer was almost laying down in the old rocker as he slouched down and
stuck his feet up on an old planter and was holding up the day’s paper as he
lounged his way through the morning catching up on current events outside the
realm of his property fences assuring that the words displayed would suffice
for his lack of need to venture far and see for himself just what the world was
up to. As if time or purpose meant anything to him so far out in the country. Still
he was focused with his nose in between the folds of the paper. I watched Tuck
as he suddenly lunged from a stiff walk to a full out run, stretching his legs as
suddenly I realized he saw something and I quickly searched the direction he
was headed to see if I could see what he was after.
The road was
perched up on the side of a hill and offered full view of the farm situated in
the valley below offering clear views of the front porch, and the farmer and
tuck tearing up ground looking as if he was headed straight for the farmer on
the porch. I looked beyond the porch as I came out into full view of the
panorama opening up before me as I drove on along on the road, and I could see
the garden beyond and a huge groundhog standing tall in the middle of it.
I looked at Tuck’s
path and the garden, and I could see a straight line, as straight as an arrow
across the farmer’s porch. I figured Tuck was going to have to cross the porch
and the farmer to get the groundhog in the garden on the other side. I only
took my eyes off them for a half a second to get my bearings on the road long
enough to keep me from ending up in a ditch , only to see Tuck make a mighty
leap and land on the side of the open porch in one large bound. The noise of
him thudding hard on the low slung porch startled the farmer and quickly he
responded by putting the paper down, and looking in the direction of the noise,
but by then tuck was sailing right over the farmers outstretched feet sailing a
clear 2 feet over them and in another thud landed on the other side of the
small porch landing on the edge and lunging again for open air as he landed
about 8 feet further into the air. I watched the old farmer as his head turned this
way and that trying to catch up with the noise only to see the ass-end of my
dog as he tore through his garden, blinded by the bright morning sun to watch Tuck
grab a surprised huge groundhog by the neck and throw him in the air. Only to Tuck’s
surprise that the groundhog was so huge, he hardly got him off the ground, as
undoubtedly this groundhog and the farmer had a working arrangement, where he
would eat all he wanted and the farmer would plant more for him.
Regardless the
fight was on and the dust flew and the garden was getting tore up as I now focused on the road,
having just missed the opportunity to drive off several times as I watched my
dog in some rather complicated maneuvers doing things unimaginable to this
farmers garden. I just drove along and acted like he wasn’t my dog and that I never
saw him before till finally I was beyond the sight of the farm and the farmer
not knowing exactly the fate of my dog or the groundhog, or even the farmer, as
he undoubtedly thought he thought he was hearing things only to see the butt of
a dog who wasn’t his, flying over his feet and then tearing off into his garden
and killing a big old groundhog that had he had been feeding no doubt.
I stopped the
truck in the safety of a hidden cove of trees and whistled my familiar long
whistle calling Tuck to me. Here he come
running down the road and up into the truck he went, as expertly as he flew
over the farmers feet and landed in the corner of the passenger side of the trucks
bench seat and looked at me as he took long breaths with a slight frothing at
the mouth and looking a bit disheveled. He looked at me for a second as if he
was saying, “Hurry up fat boy we better skate out of her”. That I did as gravel
flew and soon he was leaning out the window looking for his next adventure as
his hair flattened in the wind. .
Now I
don’t know about the farmer but as far as I am concerned, it was definitely
something to remember, especially that old farmer wondering what was going on
as old Tuck flew through the air and scared the heck out of him as well the fight
and the eventual disappearance of the dog , in just the same time as it took
for it all to happen. And all he had to show for it was a dead groundhog, and some
damaged plants in the middle of his previously well-kept garden. I am sure he
would have something to talk at church about the next Sunday and way more
relevant to him than what was in that newspaper, and something he surely wouldn’t forget for a while.
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