Patches, The Wonder Dog

Although we never knew exactly how old Duke was, our Vet guessed him to be about 10 years old.  If this were the case, he lived to about 14 years.  Our home was quiet without Duke, and a year after his passing, we adopted Patches, a lovable little Collie/Beagle mix.

Patches displayed a keen intelligence and a strong instinctual desire to herd.  He was about two years old when my parents decided that a few chickens would be a great idea.

Every morning, we would let all six chickens out of the coop to roam the backyard and the woods.  Each evening before dinner, we would round up the chickens and drive them into the coop.  It wasn’t easy as one chicken would go in, but the others would circle around and head for the woods again.  Patches watched us round up the chickens every evening, but oddly enough never joined in.

It wasnt long before frustration set in.  With chickens running every which way and the rest of us exhausted, Mom looked over at Patches who was sitting, quivering with excitement.  “Okay…YOU go get them!” she said.  Without a moments hesitation, the little dog sprung into action. 

To our shock and amazement, Patches had all six chickens in the coop in less than five minutes!  Rounding up the chickens became his job from then on.

Patches loved people, especially our mail man.  It also happened that our mail man had a soft spot for Patches.  Every day, Patches would sit on the front steps and wait for the mail truck.  When Bill pulled up to our mail box, Patches would run to the mail truck and jump in.  Bill always had a treat for the dog, and the two would continue on the mail route until Patches decided he had gone far enough, hop out and return home to wait on the front steps for the school bus to arrive.

When I got off the bus and crossed the street, Patches would be waiting at the end of the driveway to walk me to the house.  He watched us carefully and protected us in his own, happy way.

When I was about 10 years old, my best friend, Renee lived two houses away on the same side of the street.  We would walk through the neighbors yards (my grandfather lived next door and the Taylors lived next to him) to visit each other as we were not allowed to walk on the street.  Sometimes Patches chose to come along, sometimes he stayed home.

One day, while visiting Renee, we decided to walk back to my house and play there.  Patches stayed home that day.  We were walking across my Grandfathers front lawn, well off the road, when we heard a loud, speeding truck from behind us.  We looked back to see a red pick up truck go screaming by.  Suddenly, the brakes locked and threw the truck  into a screeching halt.  The driver put the truck into reverse and backed up, stopping parallel to us.

Renee and I froze, watching as the driver opened the door and began to step out.  I remember a couple of empty beer cans falling out onto the road with a clatter.  The driver and his passenger, both male, appeared to be in their early twenties.  At that same moment, I remember seeing Patches, running full speed toward us and barking like I had never heard him bark before.

The driver, slurring, asked if we needed a ride.  We yelled back, “NO, WE LIVE HERE”, and quickly turned and headed for my Grandfathers front door.  As we ran to the door, Patches ran past us, heading for the truck, which sped off before the little dog could reach them.

We were extremely thankful that #1: My Grandfather NEVER locked his door and #2: that Patches, as always, was watching out for us.

My parents were happy to have one dog, but two dogs – that was a different story.  Though my brother begged for a dog of his own, claiming that Patches was really my dog, my parents said that one dog was enough responsibility for us… That is, until Kelly came along.  Kelly was a five year old Irish Setter – my father LOVED Irish Setters and had wanted one since he was a child.

At the Time, Good Morning America ran a segment each Friday featuring shelter dogs available for adoption.  Kelly was the shelter dog featured on this particular day.  My father watched, glued to the television, as Jane Pauley talked with a woman from a shelter which was located about 30 minutes from where we lived.  At that very moment, Dad decided that our home was big enough for two dogs!

My Dogs

April 12, 2010

I have always loved animals and in particular, dogs. 

My love for dogs and horses began early on, as I grew up next door to a large family who seemed to do everything in a “BIG” way.  They had five horses and a very large Saint Bernard named Dutchess.

Dutchess would wander over to visit whenever I was outside.  She would lumber up to me and I would  wrap my arms around her enormous neck, at which point, she would promptly and submissively flop to the ground and lay there for as long as I paid attention to her.  She kissed me, drooled all over me, leaned on me and knocked me over - and I loved every minute of it!

My mother loved dogs too and encouraged my love for them as well.  She did not panic when Dutchess (who had to weigh nearly 100lbs) would knock over her 4 year old daughter.  Instead she would laugh, dust me off and stand me up again.

Some time later, my mother rescued a stray German Shepherd Dog who had been wandering the streets where she worked.  Each day, she would share her lunch with the dog as she feared he would starve to death, hoping that his owners would soon find him.  After many weeks, he was picked up by the local dog catcher.  She inquired every day as to whether he had been found by his owners.  Each day, they would inform her that he was still there.

He had two weeks.  My mother posted fliers everywhere, but no one came forward to claim him.  She would not allow him to be euthanized, so on his last day at the shelter, we adopted him.

Duke was a large and impressive dog who was very intelligent and exceptionally well trained.  He calmly and patiently tolerated me climbing all over and sitting on him.  She never feared that he would lose his patience or temper with me – and he never did – no matter how closely I inspected his eyes, ears, paws or teeth (and for some reason, I was especially fascinated by his teeth and would pull back his upper lip to get a good look at his pearly whites).

One story I remember about Duke goes back to when I was about seven years old.  It was close to Halloween and our freshly carved pumpkins adorned the front steps.  As the days passed and it got closer to Halloween, I began to notice many pumpkins smashed in the road.  My mother explained that some teenagers thought it was fun to run up to a house late at night and steal the pumpkins from the steps and then smash them in the road.  I worried that my pumpkin might be the next.  I checked each morning to see if it was still there.  

A few nights prior to Halloween, I awoke to hear a car idling in front of the neighbors house and then sounds of laughter and then the car speeding away.  The next morning, our neighbors pumpkins had been smashed all over the road in front of their house.  I looked to see if my pumpkin was still on the steps and to my relief, it was.

Late the following night, a car pulled up in front of our house.  My parents were both awake watching television with Duke sleeping at my mothers feet.  My father, knowing what was about to happen, raced to the door to catch the pranksters in the act.  When the boys reached the steps, my father opened the door and to his surprise, Duke shot out before anyone could stop him. 

The boys froze in fear, as they stood eye to eye with Duke who was not about to let them get away with our pumpkins.  The boys turned and ran for the car with Duke hot on their heels.  The boys jumped into the back seat of the car which sped off. 

Every halloween after that, the neighbors pumpkins would end up in pieces in the middle of the street, but ours remained untouched.

The Funny Things In Life

As we all continue to deal with the economy and the individual stresses and problems in our lives, I’ve come to realize that there are also many wonderful or funny things which happen to us each and every day.  Katie is our 6 Month old Lab Puppy, she is smart and sweet, but like all puppies, she is curious about everything…

April 9, 2010

11:00am:  It’s raining this morning.  As I sit at my computer, Katie, our 6 month old yellow Labrador Retriever has just come in with Richard from outside.  Like a 45lb Tornado, she has proceeded to knock over everything within reach — be right back.

11:20am:  Office now back in order, Katie is roaming the house, completing her daily inspection.  The house is much too quiet —be right back.

11:25am:  Cat litter box is now in a location where she can’t get to it.  She is now here with me in my office. I’ve closed the door so she’ll stay put where I can watch her.

11:30am:  Put trash can up on chair so she can’t shred papers.  Picked up cat food too, before she located it.  Back to work.  Today is the day I check inventory for our online business (www.petfoodauthority.com).

11:45am:  Trash can now on top of filing cabinet.  Inventory almost done, updates to website in progress.

12:00pm:  Took shoe away from Katie, replaced it with her favorite toy.  Hopefully she’ll settle down now for a bit so I can get some work done.  Inventory is nearly finished and I’ve still got a fairly long “To Do” List.

12:05pm:  Let cat out of office, picked up pens.

12:15:  Couldn’t catch the plant before Katie pushed it off my desk.  Picked up plant (which now needs to be re-potted) and vacuumed floor.

12:30pm:  Printed Inventory Documents - raced Katie to the printer, succeeded in grabbing documents before she could steal them off the printer!

12:55pm:  All is quiet now, except for a little snoring now and again.  Katie is napping and I’ve got about 20 minutes to get 8 hours of work done…gotta go!