Tucker

Taken a few weeks ago when snow was just beginning to melt and roads in town were beginning to clear..................

A couple of weeks ago a resident at the opposite end of town called me to tell me that Kory was running in his yard.

Knowing that Kory was inside the house I told him that it was not (at least THIS time) my wayward dog.

His response was that this dog looked exactly like Kory.

Curious, LC, Kory and I loaded up into the Suburban and drove the few streets we have to the opposite end of town and pulled into the guys yard.

As soon as I saw the dog I knew who he was.

I did not know the dogs name, but knew him to be friendly because he and Kory had visited with each other through the fence many times while we walked through town.

As we all stood in the yard watching this young dog I smiled at him, realizing that he had gotten free for the first time and was having a great time exploring his new found freedom.

We called to him and he happily ignored us.

We tried to catch him and he happily stayed just out of reach, and we all walked up and down the road watching him as he wandered freely from yard to yard.....................

The dog lived with a young man whose parents had bought him a mobile home in town, and I was fairly certain that the young man was at work, out at INL (the Secret Squirrel Lab that is located about ten miles from town).

With his owner gone, his owners parents not home, and us unable to catch this happily wandering and good natured young pup, LC drove the Suburban home while I walked through town with Kory....................

Later that same day I walked with Kory in town a second time.

We turned right out of the driveway, walked a short way and turned right again, picking up a side road.

I had planned to turn left at the end of the block but as we reached the corner I heard a dog barking.

Standing in the middle of the empty and silent road I listened for a few minutes.

The barking was continuous and excited.

Curious for the second time in one day, I turned the corner and headed toward the sound of the non-stop barking.

One more block and I looked to my left.

Barking and jumping in one place in the snow was the hysterically excited young brown dog of the morning.

I watched him for a few moments wondering what he was so excited about, and then I saw.

There were some wooden posts piled on the ground, still half hidden by the snow, and I caught just a glimpse of a cat before the poor feline disappeared into the safety of the poles again.

Pup had the cat cornered and as I watched this scene play out in front of me I wondered how long this happy-go-lucky puppy had been in this one place threatening the life of this unfortunate cat.

Reaching into the pocket of my insulated pants I called LC and asked him to meet me.

If I was going to try and rescue the cat, I would need Kory out of the way.

A couple of minutes later I had Kory loaded into the Suburban................

As I trudged through knee deep snow headed towards the furry duo, cat decided to make a break for it.

She darted out from the wood pile and scampered part way up one wall of a small, home made storage building.

For a moment I thought the cat was safe, so was caught off guard as I watched the cat (for no apparent reason) fall back to the ground.

At that moment I guessed that the cat had been cornered for a long time and was exhausted.

As soon as the cat fell into the snow the dog pounced on top, and I thought for certain that at that moment the cat was a goner.

Yelling at the dog as loudly and as sternly as I could, he momentarily hesitated.

That gave the cat the brief pause that she needed to make a break for freedom and safety.

Still speaking sternly to the dog I realized that I had the pups' undivided attention.

As I reached him, he immediately cowered and I realized for the first time just how young this dog was.

Less than a year old certainly.

Probably around 9 or 10 months old.

He was just a baby........................

Sternly (but now a little more softly since cat was safe, dog had stopped attacking, and was now cowering and wanting to please me) I cajoled him back towards the road.

When we reached the Suburban LC opened the back door, picked up pup and loaded him in with Kory.

Young dog lay on the floor tired and a little stressed, and Kory walked over to him, squatted over him and promptly peed on his head.

OK............I hadn't seen THAT coming. 

LC and I had always wondered how Kory would react with another dog in "her" vehicle.  

We had visited an animal shelter last year and brought another dog into the Tahoe with her.   Kory immediately dropped down to the floor board, pressed her nose as far underneath the front seat as she could and completely shut down.

We thought at the time that it was because she viewed another dog - possibly competition for our affections - as a threat to her.

But when we visited an animal shelter a second time not too long ago (to leave Piper the little black lab to wait for her owners to pick her up) we finally realized that it wasn't another dog that caused her to shut down after all.

It was shelters.

Kory knew shelters.

And we think that she remembered shelters.

Those places (understandably so) stress her.

Kory was not stressed out by this big, young, red pup.  In fact, when pup loaded into the Suburban our sweet girl immediately demonstrated her dominance.

That was a good lesson for us to learn about Kory.....................

After picking up the pup we drove to the town bar and had the bar owners call the dog owner.

Young, adventurous pup was safe and would be at our house.  He could pick him up after work.

For the next hour Kory and this dog (whose named we eventually learned was Tucker) played in the back yard

They played well together, and LC and I greatly enjoyed watching them romp.  

Tucker (after an entire day of running and playing and wandering and scaring cats) was starving and ate an entire bowl of food within minutes.  And then the two dogs (who were almost the same size)  played some more.

 When we went into the house because of the cold we had planned on leaving Tucker in the garage.

He would have no part of that and barked loudly and scratched at the back door until we relented and let him into the house.

We had always wondered how Kory would react to another dog eating food from her bowl.  How she would react to another dog taking her treats.  How she would react to another dog playing with her toys.

She was fine with everything.  All of it.  And happy-go-lucky Tucker wandered through the house as if he owned it.

When LC finally sat on the couch, this big and so-sweet puppy climbed up onto his lap.

About an hour after we had brought Tucker home with us, his owner eventually stopped by to pick up his adventurous dog.

The entire episode taught us a lot...........................

We had so much snow this past winter.

I loved it very much and a huge part of me is disappointed that most of it is now melted.

Some pictures that were taken in January of winter in Atomic City, Idaho....................

Me skiing down the middle of the road.......................

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.............Unknown