A Wild Dog

Not only do we live by the river, but we are also close by to 1400 acres of state land here in our little neck of the woods in Michigan. Every so often we can hear coyotes in the early morning or late at night. Which reminds me of something that happened to me when I was about 12 years old.

My gramma/ grampa B had an 80 acre dairy farm. This consisted of pastures, woods, a yard, a grove of black and red pine trees and even a section of quicksand. My grandparents were not worried about me roaming any part of their land as long as I took Boots with me. The only time I was not allowed to roam was during hunting season.

Boots was one of my grandparents dogs. He was an Alaskan Eskimo Spitz dog. Boots loved the cold weather and hated thunderstorms...and since I also hated thunderstorms I knew I was safe with him, because he would start howling when he heard thunder in the distance. He could hear it even before I could see a cloud in the sky...so even if I was in the far back of the farm, we had enough time to get back to the farmhouse.

    Although I do not have an actual pic of Boots, this is what he looked like. Not sure who to thank for this pic, but thank you for adding your Eskimo to the internet.

Now being a kid, I was not sure why my gramma B always made me take Boots with me when I left the safety of the farmhouse and barns...as he was never near me ever when I went traipsing through the pastures and woods...however there was one day that I was glad I listened to my gramma.

As usual, Boots went off on his own until I was close to the edge of the woods, and all of a sudden a a wild dog came out of the woods with teeth barred. Not sure even where Boots came from, but he got between me and that dog with teeth barred and growling too. Then I realized this wild dog was realIy a coyote. I grabbed Boots' collar cause I knew from stories my grandparents told me that one coyote always lures some animals into the woods and the entire pack then attack..especially dogs. So instinctively I grabbed his collar yelling at the coyote and it went back into the woods as fast as it had come out.

I walked back to the homestead right away that day holding onto Boots' collar the entire way, but thankful I had him with me.

After getting back to the farmhouse, I gave Boots a bone and always was happy to have him with me after that...

Take care everyone.
Enjoy your Sunday
Janice