Pyr pressure

I'm sitting in my shop at the Ozark Folk Center tying a broom when in walks Jeanette. Jeanette normally moves with a sort of quick grace and always has a smile. This time, she seems agitated and her movements are abrupt.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing." She says as she flips over my OPEN sign and makes the be-back-at break clock read 1:30. "Come with me."

Uh Oh...

Around the corner, past a few other shops, there's a pile of puppies. Mostly white with the occasional spot of gray or brown. The occasional badger face peers out, too.

"These are Margaret's Great Pyrenees puppies," say's Jeanette. "And we've been thinking abour getting a guard dog... but I wanted you to take a lok first."

One of the little fluffballs comes trundling over to me, sniffs once or twice and plops himself on my feet.

"They're six weeks old, weaned, with their shots and wormer." Jeanette continues.

The ball of fluff on my feet looks up at me and I notice that over his glossy black eyes, there's the finest white eyelashes I've ver seen. And, although he is pure white elsewhere, his nose is variegated -- there is a spot of pink on either side.

"This one." I say, pointing down at my feet. "His name is Buckshot."

"Buckshot?"

"Yeah. Look at his nose. He's double barreled."

Meet Buckshot.

Requiem for Anakin

Anakin had been dropped on our property in Colorado in 2002. We
watched him from a distance, with rifle at the ready, for several
days. He never attempted to hurt any of our animals. After about a
week, he began to come closer and we eventually set out food and then
brought him in.

Our daughters were wrapped up in the Star Wars phenom and chose to
name him Anakin. As a white German Shepherd, I thought this would be
OK. If he ever started to turn gray or black, I would worry... or at
least change his name to Darth Vader. The name was a nver ending
problem as no one could ever get past the Ani nickname without calling
him Annie... and she.. I'm sure Ani was never really worried about it,
but it drove me crazy.

He was very smart and had only to be told once. After being told once,
he would repeat that flawlessly or never do it again, depending on
what he'd been told. For instance, the first night he came inside with
us, he followed Quigley's lead and jumped into the bed. Ani's quite a
lot larger and he surprised me and I said "down." To his dying day he
never attempted to get on the bed again.

Sometimes, he learned by observing. We had a rabbit warren break out
of its room and we spent hours trying to catch them all. Ani watched
patiently as we scooped up rabbits and put them back in the repaired
room. From that moment on, he would bring us rabbits... terrified,
soggy, but generally undamaged rabbits in his jaws.

Once he watched us skin a chicken (we don't pluck) for dinner. He
patiently sat in his yard the next day and removed every last feather
from a chicken and presented the living, nude bird to us later on.

He was terrified of trucks and never chased cars. However, when the
decision had been made to travel, we weren't going to leave the dogs
behind. We picked him up and put him in the truck. After a couple of
stops for walks, simply saying "truck" would get him up into the back
seat.

Although he was never trained, he had that herding instinct and helped
quite often in the moving of our flocks of sheep and goats.

He was my dog. I'm often guilty of staying up late and he would
patiently sit in the living room while I finished up one project or
another. Only when I went to bed would he come and curl up under the
bed or across the bedroom door.

Through thick and thin he was my faithful companion for 7 years.

He'll be missed more than I could have ever known!

Anakin's Passing

We miss our friend already.

We knew Anakin was not feeling well and the two-leggeds kept taking him to this place he said he didn't like where a strange man looked at him with lots of gadgets. When the two-leggeds brought him home, they fussed over him and gave him special treats, but he didn't get better.

Now he's gone.

The big hairy two-legged had water leaking from his eyes and couldn't seem to breathe right. He wrapped him up and carried him away. I heard him say he was so sorry and he misses Anakin, too.

Anakin's Dilemma

I'm confused.

I used to be able to run wherever I wanted! Now I have to have a two-legged with me all the time.

But it's not all the time, really, because the two legged put up an automatic dog walker in the front yard. It lets me run, but only a short way and back and forth.

The two-leggeds started putting me on this all day long everyday! They started to do this after I ate the wiry things on the doors and windows so I could go out and run.

Now, the automatic walker thing is confusing enough, and not being able to run when I want to is confusing, too. Having to be with a two-legged I can almost understand.

So why did the furry-faced two legged get mad when I tried to go out to be with the other two-legged working on the pump in the back yard? Maybe it had something to do with the way I say hello and maybe what the other two legged said to furry-face wasn't as nice.

Oh, well. At least I get to go swimming sometimes now...

My road

The big doghouse we let the two-legged stay in is about 100 yards from a road and people keep moving those funny round-legged things with the loud growls back and forth! I bark and bark and run to the window - especially when the fuzzy-faced two-legged is still in the bed thing - but the two-leggeds wont let me run the growly things off.

That's OK, though. I get even. Whenever I see one of those things sitting still, I sneak up on it and mark one of its legs!

Pistol's Purr-son likes string toys

Hi Scraps, Anni and Quigley,

Just look at the funnies my two-leggeds keep on my food box! Actually I don’t think the second one will be there much longer. Csaba (the darn cat) has been getting into my not quite as tall boy’s (my girl purr-sun calls him Morgan) room and tearing up his favorite things.

He’s been getting lots of shots from the squirt bottle! I wouldn’t think it was so funny if that darn cat wouldn’t pick on me too.

My girl purr-son was looking at the blinky box and telling me about your girl purr-son’s contest about how great your people toys are. She said she didn’t think that she was allowed to enter. Well, the only webby site I know is the back porch and I don’t want to get you in trouble by sending you links. I ALWAYS get in trouble when I take things off the counter so I guess I can’t enter either but I do love your people toys too!

I love how happy she gets making string on her drop spindle when she comes home. She has several of them but I can tell her favorite is the one with the cross that my very tall boy says is really his. I think your man made it for him. I love it when she tells that darn cat that it is her toy and he can’t play with it. Sometimes she is so happy she takes me for a walk!

I love it when she takes all her frustrations out on sheep fur with those magic needles. Somehow those needles poke whatever is wrong into the fur and turns it into something that makes her feel so much better! How great is that? I don’t really know how it works because it seems like a good thing to keep my nose away from. It happens even faster now that she has the wood toy that holds lots of needles.

I love how happy she is when she has a project going on her tiny short knitting sticks that your man made for her. She takes it on the bus (that’s a very-long-in-the-middle Dachshund sort of truck that a lot of two-leggeds can all ride at once) and is much more relaxed when she gets home. I bet everyone she is around while she is gone is happier too.

I love how happy she is when comes out of the drinking bowl room all wet and clean from using your soap (aren’t they just so strange to like that?). She says it keeps her from being all itchy and scratchy. I thought that’s what flea collars are for but, whatever.

I love how happy she is when she plays with her triangle string toys, also things your man made. She’s so happy that even when she makes a mistake she doesn’t mind very much. She won’t let the cat play with them either.

And most of all, I love it when she reads me what you are all up to in the blinky box. Doesn’t it get cramped in there?

Your Friend,

Pistol

The Workshop

Almost every day, when the sun is headed across the pasture, we go to the place the two-leggeds call the "Workshop". The hairy-faced warm one is there already. Maybe he lives most of his day there. We take the soft-voiced one with us. Sometimes, she is forgetting to go, but we remind her.

The deer critters tease us on the way to the "Workshop". Ani wants to let them know that he will not always be dragging a two-legged. Then the deers will be sorry for teasing him. He will chase them.

There are other hu-mans there. The other hu-mans are owned by more dogs. We don't like those other dogs. Our hu-mans make us stay on ropes at the "Workshop" so we can't go teach those other dogs who is boss. They think they are boss. They might want to take our hu-mans.


We like some other dogs. Bear-dog is a friend. Our friend Pistol sent us news from the land where we live sometimes. We will remember to have our light-haired one let you see the note - and the funny pictures!