As I am winding down for the evening, I am coming in from the cold shop where I have been working. There is over six inches of snow on the ground, and more is falling every minute. When the conditions are like this I can't help but think of times when it is warmer. Not that I would want anything else, but it is the natural opposite of what is currently happening.
I wanted to share this image of my best pal George. Just a couple of months ago I was working on the farm and fixing fences. It takes a few hours to walk the fences, and I never head out alone. That is something that we started on the homestead. We always take a dog, or both with us when we go out.
We have found that there are several reasons why we should always have them. First, I will always take George because he is my best pal! He goes with me everywhere. He is the first dog that I have ever owned that has been a truck dog. Truck dog is a pretty self explanatory term. He has been with me everyday since he was six weeks old. We have been through alot together.
Over the years he and I have had our fair share of "incidents". The first time that we really bonded was the first time that he had a major accident. He and his brother Jax were running full speed through the holler and George hit some barbed wire. I remember seeing him flip through the bushes when he hit it. He was cruising! Unfortunately the barbed wire snagged his front leg and he was spraying blood.
I remember trying to check him while he was spraying blood all over my sweatshirt and boots. It was just instinct then, but I snatched him up and took him to the garden. I got a hand full of dirt and held it on his wound. I held him there until all the bleeding had stopped. The look on his face was just precious. You could literally see that he was thinking that I saved him.
Another time that we had a brush with death was when he and Jax were rounding up a couple of copperhead snakes. They took care of one, but the other one they needed help with. In the end though we found that he had actually been bitten on his back leg. So I laid him down and milked black blood out of his wound. It was swollen for just a couple of days and went back to normal.
The worst was a time when we were driving back from a friends house and he fell out of the car window. We were going about 45 mph and he toppled out of the window. That whole incident involved a fair amount of blood, a dislocated leg, and more tears from me than could be counted. That was a hard couple of days.
So that is just a couple of run ins that the ol' dog and I have had over the years. I love having him with me, and working with me. So when we were out working the fences, that is where the second reason to have them with us comes in. Another reason to have them with us is because it is good for them.
There is alot of running, jumping, chasing, hunting, and working. Keeping them active keeps them healthy. It keeps them strong. It keeps them focused. This picture was George when he was nosing through the tall grass. I may have been working hard, but I am sure he was too.
Be well.
~The Yeti
