Another sleepless Night

 There are nights when I get no sleep whatsoever. This is due to the medication I take. it;s something that you get used to but can become tiresome. There are times when it affects your judgement. This morning was one of those times.

 Dolly and i had hardly gotten out the backdoor when we were confronted by the sound of a dog in pain along with the sound of an aggressive dog attacking. This was coming from one of our neighbors backyard where they keep a dog tied up. It sounded to me as if the tied dog was being attacked by roaming dog.

 Dolly got angry. Something had upset the balance of things here in Mokane and she decided to go stick her nose in the affair. I got scared when she refused to obey me. I did not want her in that fight. I followed her for a distance and I was eventually able to call her to me. We were close to the fight but it was blocked from my view by bushes. From what I saw one dog was trying to give up and submit, The other wanted to press the attack.

 When you live in a tiny rural town with no law enforcement there are situations that happen that you have to take care of yourself.  There is no county dog catcher and the nearest law enforcement is 15 miles away.  My county is the third largest in the state. Sometimes it takes the law a long time to get here and they don't like dealing with dog issues.

 My neighbors were not home to defend their dog. They were at work. i got angry and wanted to help the dog being attacked so I took Dolly home and started grabbing some things taht might be useful. The first thing I grabbed was a cannister of Udap Bear Spray which is a fogging pepper mace used on Grizzly bears up North to run them away without killing them. I decided to bring a pistol as a backup. The only ammo I could find quickly was 9 mm so I took my Ruger 9 mm semi auto. I was not happy with my choice. I have more faith in the Udap Bear Spray than the 9 mm.

 I don't like firing a gun in town. too many things can go wrong.  You can get in legal trouble and I take gun safety very seriously. You are far better off not firing it and only using it as a last ditch defense. I figured that if a dog would press an attack on a dog who was trying to give up might just attack a human too. My goal was to prevent my neighbors dog from being killed.

When I got outside there was silence. I got on the John Deere and  drove over there fully expecting to find a dead dog.  My Ruger was in a shoulder holster so that my hands would be free to use the Bear Spray.  Dolly was riding with me in the seat. That was poor judgement on my part.

When we arrived at the area of the fight I stopped, shook my head, and said out loud; "Carl you D__n Fool" In my tiredness what I thought was a bad dog fight was actually a lovers quarrel. Dolly expressed her displeasure of the situation by going " BRRAFFF!" at them in her loudest bark.  This terrified the two so much that even the tied up dog tried to run away. Just one of those two dogs would have made five of dolly. 

myself i was hppy that there was not an aggressive stray dog running loose in town.

goodnight folks I relly got to get some sleep.

Little Miss Manners forgets Her Manners

 I love taking Dolly with me on trips in to town. She is normally no trouble and I like taking her into dog friendly businesses.  I have even sneaked her in to places where dogs are banned and she has yet to betray me by barking.

 One such dog friendly place is a business called Tobacco Cheaper in Fulton MO. They have dog treats that Dolly loves. Normally she turns her nose up at dog treats. She will only take them from a stranger shes decided she likes. She won't eat them in front of that person. She will take it out of sight of human eyes and bury it. She might dig it up later and eat it then after it has marinated in the ground for at least two weeks.

 I stopped in that store yesterday. The fellow behind the counter gave her a new type of treat. She turned her nose up at it. It was an Old Roy Barkin Bacon treat. he had giver her one big piece. She will not eat big pieces of food. She likes small bits or you have to break it up for her. I took the treat and broke it up. After I fed her the first bite she almost completely forgot her manners.

 Her habit is to wait patiently for food. Yesterday i thought she was going to take the whole piece from my hands. When you hand feed her she is very careful to not bite your hand. In fact when she takes the food your hand feels as if it was given a gentle kiss. When I fed her the Old Roy treats she  almost bit my hand several times.

 When we left I asked the fellow for a couple more treats which he did give me. I said to Dolly "Lets go". She charged out the door, slid to a halt, then ran back in. She went directly to the guy at the counter and put her front paws on him. Our manners had returned. I told the man"That's her way of saying Thank You!" he was impressed.

 Another one of her habits is to not bother food that you have in the cab of the truck even if that food is for her. I can go off and come back later to find that the food has not been touched. I hid one of the Old roy treats in the console. I stepped out of the truck for a minute and when I looked back in she had the whole big piece of treat in her mouth happily chewing away at it.

 I was going to buy her a bag of these treats. Last night when I posted this story on Facebook someone reminded me that it is not a good idea to buy anything with the name of Old Roy. Dolly had gotten so excited over this treat that I had forgotten that. I had also forgotten that dogs really love food that is bad for them. I have read stories about where some brands of dog food actually come from. I grew up on a farm and it takes a lot to surprise me. I knew dog food came from rendering plants that pick up waste meat. What I did not know was that they also pick up dogs and cats from kill shelters and vets offices. The medication used to put them to sleep does not always break down in the rendering process. They also don't bother to remove flea collars from the dead pet before rendering.

 I think Old Roy Products still come from rendering plants. I'd rather pay a few dollars more for dog food that does not use this process.