I Fought The Dogs, And The Dogs Won.

Coming up in the country after moving from the big city, it was quite an adjustment for this city kid. Everything was different from what I was used to. Our family had some chickens and some hogs, so we always had fresh food (especially eggs) to eat. Lots of hard work involved. Cutting wood, hauling hay, tending to the hogs which had a knack of escaping from our pen, usually at the most inconveinient times! We had an old sow that was ALWAYS escaping our pen. The importance of farm dogs was key in controlling the livestock. I had a solid white German Shepherd named Woozy, and a couple of mutts, the red one was Sam, and the white, black and brown one named Tramp. Tramp was the smallest of the three, but made up for it with extra ferocity.

One day the sow escaped the pen. It was a cold and rainy day and I would have rather done ANYTHING but chase loose livestock on this particular day. To make matters worse, the sow went over to the nearby plum orchard and started eating. Could not be enticed to the pen with a bucket of corn. Time to call up the heavy artillery. All I had to do was clap my hands and the dogs were alerted. What happened next was about the funniest thing I've seen to this day. The dogs ran to the hog, Woozy grabbed an ear, Sam grabbed an ear, and the Trampster grabbed the tail, and they followed me back to the pen with the sow and we put her back inside. Hysterical stuff. Wish I could have filmed it. Interestingly, that old sow didn't escape for awhile. Proud of those dogs. Old Yeller or Lassie couldn't have done better.