Saturday, November 2, 2013

Old Blue


Courtesy photobucket.com
 
This is the story of how we secured our first Blue Tick Hound Dog.  It was several years ago, but one sunny day, my husband decided to take my daughter and me to a field trial for Blue Tick Hound Dog lovers.

There were events for the dogs to perform certain tasks.  One dog treed his varmint but forgot to bark (or howl) as the case might be.

A large pond of water was situated on the acreage, and one event was for the hound to swim across and catch the lure being pulled across the pond.
 
How they did this was to place a live Raccoon in a cage and secure the cage onto a wooden float.  With a rope attached, some one from across the pond, would pull the float and raccoon across, and then the dog was released.  Naturally the raccoon was rescued and the dog was given a treat instead.

As we met people and listened to them brag on their dogs, we discovered a family with a mother dog and her new Blue Tick babies.

My husband could not take his eyes off the puppies and naturally had to ask how much for one of the male dogs.  They settled on a price and said we could pick him up in a few weeks when he was old enough to leave his mother.

Then the lady said, “By the way, one of our members is very sick and we are doing a raffle as a fund raiser for him.”  Could you spare $10 for the raffle?” 

So it was that a few days later we received a telephone call that we had won the raffle and the prize was a second puppy, this time a female. 

The day arrived to pick up our purchase and winnings, so my husband and our daughter drove to the place to acquire our new puppies.  Both puppies came with papers and all we needed to do was register them in a few weeks.

Selecting names was now our task.  Robert named his male dog, Blue Moon and told me I could name the female.  I selected the name Moon’s Sugar Babe, and so it was we became the owners of not one but two hound dogs.

As years went by, our Sugar went to dog heaven, but Old Blue was a hearty old cuss.

My husband decided that Blue needed a Wife, so we made a trip to purchase for him, our Mindy.  Poor Mindy soon became the mother of 10 puppies, and they were so much fun.  Fortunately we were able to sell most of them. 

Three males were left and Robert could not part with them.  We were in a mess, and for the love of our dogs, we suffered for the next several years.

Through it all, we still love each other and of course the new dogs we now have.

Our animals are on loan from God for usually only a short time, but while they are with us we enjoy their antics and their company. 

You must view this:  So cute - don't miss this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKXLZ5T1VDU  

 

4 comments:

Floyd said...

Any time I hear anything about a blue tick hound I think about the song by Hank Williams Jr. ... like to lay around in the shade my self... so how can I dog a dog... That was comedy genius! Great post, sister!

Betty Jo said...

What a precious post Hazel! It brought back so many childhood memories for me; my father raised bird dogs, so I was continuously surrounded by dogs growing up. My favorite was our own hound dog, Joe. Later he would be known as Old Joe, and he slept on the porch right outside my bedroom window. I can remember being so frustrated with his snoring at night, but missed him and the snoring so much when he was gone. My father always said Old Joe was named after me!

Sharon said...

Hazel, I really enjoyed this post - as I am a BIG fan of a certain hound, a grandbeagle named Marty. I still think that one of God's great gifts on this earth is the gift of dogs!!

What an enjoyable post.

GOD BLESS!

Erin Foerch said...

My brother had a blue tick hound dog for many years as his loyal hunting dog. They are a great breed and very smart.