It rained most of last week and I wasn’t able to work dogs very much. Monday morning, this week, dawned bright and sunny. I was excited of the prospect of being able to get out of the house and do what I like to do. I have been boarding my friend’s GSP, Allie. Vince Dye is gone on vacation to an area with no cell phone service.
Vince’s GSP Allie.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
I started out cleaning the pens before working the dogs. I turn them all loose into a big pen while I clean their individual runs. Sallie hates Allie. I don’t know why but it may be because Allie has almost no hair in comparison to an English setter. She also has a very short tail. For whatever reason Sally has never liked her. Other GSP’s are alright but not Allie.
As I was almost through cleaning pens I heard Sally growling and when I looked she had Allie on the ground. She wasn’t biting but she was holding her to the ground. I had my, full of dog droppings, pooper scooper in one hand and a scraper in the other hand as I went to break them up. My feet got tangled in a garden hose and down I went, face first, in the gravel. As I lay there trying to sort things out Mann came up and started licking me in the face.
Sally saw me on the ground and let Allie up and came toward me, too. The only way to keep Mann out of my face was to press on his back as I stood. My glasses were hanging by one ear and I noticed blood dripping from my nose. I finished cleaning pens and went to the house to check out my damages.
My glasses had taken just a little chunk out of the side of my nose. Not a big deal. I cleaned the cut and went back and worked dogs. Later that night I found some gravel rash on forehead, too.
I worked Abby and Boss on the retrieving bench and then let them run for a few minutes. I worked Sally and Mann on retrieving and then let them run. I felt sorry for Allie. I knew that she sometimes retrieved when we were hunting so I threw a Dokken quail dummy for her. She ran out smelled the dummy and came back to me without picking it up. I let her run but she was dragging a check cord. I was hoping if she tried to run off I could get ahold of the check cord.
John and Vince flushing a single that was pointed by Ally.
Allie did a good job. She stayed right in front of me. When I got to the end of my property and turned back toward the kennels I called her. She came right to me and went in front all the way to the kennel. I couldn’t have asked for any better handling.
When I had been walking through the grass in my back, near the kennels, I thought it was ready to be mowed for the first time this year. I did a little work on the mower and mowed the back. A little more than an acre.
I was feeling pretty good about what I had got done. Worked all of the dogs, worked on the mower and mowed a bunch of my yard. About 5:30 I went out to clean pens and feed the dogs and Allie was gone. She has got out of my big pen before but never out of her kennel. When she gets out of the big pen I’m close so I just call her and she comes back. I wasn’t too worried. I cleaned pens and put dog food in each kennel, calling Allie occasionally.
Boss honoring Ally.
I finished and still no Allie. I got the 4-wheeler out and rode to the back. I called and called. I rode my neighbor’s side and from the highway in front to the very back. She has always been good about coming to me. I was really getting worried now. Vince was in an area where he couldn’t get phone reception. She had Vince’s collar on. If someone had her and called Vince’s number there would be no answer.
June and I drove the roads looking. We saw nothing and it was getting dark. We went by the dog pound but it was closed. I went back to the kennels and left the big gate open and the gate to her kennel in case she came back in the night. Every time there was a bark out of one of the dogs I went to the kennel to check. Still no Allie.
Sally pointing a single.
About 8:30 I got a message on messenger from Vince. Some way or other someone had been able to get a message to him that they had his dog. He had their phone number. I called the number and they were just about a half mile from me. When I found them they were walking Allie on a leash. They had seen her around the complex they lived in since about noon. So the whole time I had been mowing near the kennels she had been gone. When I didn’t see her in the kennel while mowing I just figured she was in her house.
The people who found her had given her a bath or two. They said she had got into some really smelly trash. They also said she really didn’t like being in the house. No wonder. She’s never been an inside dog. I got her back in her kennel and put a snap on the latch so she couldn’t raise it again.
Sally pointing a single.
Before he left Vince had bought a set of books about the frontier and the old days that he was going to give me for taking care of Allie. I told him I would pay for them. He really didn’t owe me anything for taking care of Allie. He has done a lot for a lot of people without pay. But when I lost his dog I knew he would still give me the books. If I didn’t get her back it would be like he was giving me a set of books for losing his dog. I was really glad to have her back.