Today is National Dog
Day
Today is Babe’s Day
Well she started
her day out in typical fashion rousting me out of bed sympathy for her thinking
she needed to go outside. Instead it w a ruse to let the kittens loose so I would
feed them and then when I wasn’t looking she would come and clean up what was
left. This is why Babe is so tolerant of the kittens it’s because they are new
source of food she isn’t used to, or is supposed to eat. Not that she eats
kittens, instead it is the dry cat food and the cans of Friskies cat food she
desires.
She gets her
fair share of special treatment even though I have the cats. I take her with me
in the pickup to Mc Donald’s and the store. We cruise through the drive through
and can be seen eating our dinner in the parking lot. I usually grab her two Mc
Doubles with cheese plain with a glass of water. If it is really hot then I grab
an ice cream cone and water. I have to tear apart the Mc Doubles and feed them
to her in bites she can deal with on the seat of my truck, this is usually
followed by a drink of ice water. She
slowly picks through the burgers first taking the meat and cheese out and then
if she is still hungry will come back for the bun, Most of the time it is
wasted.
babe protecting her stick
The ice cream
cone has to held and turned as she goes into a trance licking on it. She is not
interested in the fact it may be dripping or that it needs to be turned
otherwise the sticky ice cream will run down and drip off my elbow. There is no
doubt in my mind she wouldn’t lick it off , still it is in my best interest to
avoid a sticky situation and just hold it and keep turning it as she is licking
on the cone. This works till she gets to the cone. Then it is time for me to work on my cone as I
have a couple of minutes she is on auto pilot using her tongue to lap up what
is left of the ice cream in the bottom of the cone. She is usually in dog
heaven by the time she finishes her cone. My only concern is to make sure I
have my ice cream cone in one hand, and hers in the other and that I don’t
confuse the two, and make the mistake of licking on the same ice cream cone.
that is actually one of her sticks she is carrying around.
Babe was a stray
I found on a back road close to my house about 6 years ago. She was lying in a
ditch and looked to have been hit and with sympathy since i had German
Shepherds also along with the fact that as I drove by her eyes pleaded with me
to stop. I couldn’t stop where I was at as it was between two hills and they
were steep and if I stopped where she was I would have been blind to other
drivers and stood a chance of being hit myself. So instead I went to the top of
the next hill and parked and hit my flashers and exited the truck and somehow
left the door open unintentionally. I started walking down the hill talking to
her as she kind of perked up. I really didn’t know what I was doing or going to
do if she was hurt bad. As I was about half way down the hill she jumped up out
of the ditch to my amazement and ran right past me and up the hill and climbed
right into the truck and across the seat and huddled and shivered as she sat as
close to the other door as she could and after I huffed and puffed my way up
the hill to try and catch up with her that I finished opening the door to enter
when looked at her and said I guess you are ready to go. She was.
I took her to
Mc Donald’s, as a day before I saw a deer carcass that had been hit in the same
location as where I had found her and figured that she had been eating on it so
bought her a quarter pounder and then went on to work where I was just doing
some stuff at the shop and soon I was heading home. I already had two dogs Zoey
and Bud both of which I had for several years and really didn’t need another
one but didn’t know what else to do with her.
Babe soon made herself a member of the pack eventually rubbing noses
with Zoey in some knock down drag out fights as the two females who were both
of alpha mentality continued to butt heads. This kept on until Zoey eventually
passed from old age and then Babe took up a new passion barking at me while I
was on the tractor. Where I had found her a family had lost their house due to
bankruptcy and had to move , I saw cats roaming in that area the day before and
figured like the cats babe had been abandoned as she had a collar but no tags
and no way to identify the owner. I checked the local newspapers but found no lost
do ads for that area.
Bark, bark, bark,
to the point of irritation is babe’s mantra while I am on the mower or anything.
it could be the chainsaw , she sit and bitches at me for running the noise
maker and she will bark then take her feet, paw at the ground, and throw dirt
up over back or bite at the grass I have just mowed and pull a big hunk of
thatch out, as if she is mad at the world. To say the least she is a trip. At the
same time she is the protector, she is always with me wherever I go following
me on countless trips around the field when mowing hay or plowing the field. If
she isn’t with me then I have to go looking for her as it begins to worry me. She
is never far away and has never missed a night sleeping beside me on the floor
in the house, except when I had went on vacation at different times.
During those
times she would hang around the house, but would slip away down the lane
looking for me and would wait patiently sleeping in the garage until I came back
and then would let everyone know with such enthusiasm with barking and carrying
on, that it makes you glad that at least one person understands how important
you are. Although she is not a person, I still respect her for her love and devotion
and would never think of her less than a person.
It is funny to
watch her at times when I am going somewhere with the pickup as she has pretty
well trashed it and makes it her own, including a funky smell you could attribute
only to a stinky dog, of which she proudly enjoys as she works constantly at
infusing different scents into her coat and then transfers to the seat of my truck
on our outings. Now she jumps in the truck only after making sure I am there to
catch her if she doesn’t make it. She is getting older now and isn’t quite so
adept at getting in like she used to. Still she is always on the ready to go. The
window has to be down on her side as she leans against the armrest she tore off
after someone had conveniently parked beside me with their little schnauzer in
the front seat of their car. Maybe they were thinking that the two of them
would be company while we both inside
shopping , instead I returned to the truck to find the armrest in Babe’s mouth
and obviously terrified schnauzer in the other car apparently glad the windows
were up . All I could do was just shake my head and get in the truck and go on.
some dogs have sticks,
I will exit the
truck in the summer and pretend I am turning on my security system knowing no
one is going to even come close to the truck when she is in there. She is
silent but deadly although she may not hurt you , she could easily scare you to
death as I saw one old lady one day and fell instantly sorry for her as Babe lay
in wait. The woman had parked next to the truck in her vintage old car that
looked as if she had it for ages and as she exited the car she was busy paying
attention to locking the doors and was unaware of Babe sitting in the truck and
as I got closer to the truck I saw the woman apparently get a little close to
the truck and up Babe came barking her head off, through the open window. I thought
the woman was going to drop a load. Babe wasn’t going after her instead she was
merely in her own way letting her know she was too close to the pickup. I doubt
if that woman will ever forget again. In fact I think she now parks as far away
from any brown ford pickups as she can. This is my babe and I salute her
knowing I can’t control her instead she is a free spirit that takes care of her
own , and I am more than glad to be in that circle.
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