More Ranch Dogs

When we moved onto the chicken ranch Teddy was already an old dog. It was only a couple of years before he passed away. To fill the void, two dogs wandered in and we adopted them. They were very young and obviously litter mates. We named them Buckskin and Beaver. (Some of you readers are too young to remember the radio program Red Rider, or was it Ryder?) Appropriately enough, Buckskin was buckskin colored. Beaver was much darker.

These two dogs were not nearly as good as Teddy at catching rats. In fact they were no good at all.

Early in his career with us Beaver started to chase chickens. On a chicken ranch that can be a fatal activity. I tied an old dead chicken around this neck and he had to drag it around for a whole week. After that I do not think he even looked at another chicken.

Beaver had the bad habit of chasing cars and trucks. On at least two occasions he caught one. As a consequence his right hip was smashed and his right hind leg did not function. That, however, did not stop him from chasing cars and trucks. It just slowed him down so he did not catch any more.

Another dog wandered in a year of so after the arrival of Buckskin and Beaver. Of course, we adopted him. He was a beautiful black lab. We named him Amonasro. (You may recall that my parents were aspiring opera singers.)

I do not recall any more interesting stories about the dogs other than they followed Jerry and me around the ranch and, without a whole lot of coaching, refrained from chasing the sheep that kept the grass and weeds trimmed in the lanes among the chicken houses.