Nothing but a Hound Dog...





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I have an intense affinity for hunting dogs. Since I don't hunt, I think it must come from being the granddaughter of a man who hunted with dogs.

Of course, my Granddaddy’s dogs weren’t pets, no matter how cute they looked. My Aunt, who is only 5 months older than I am, and I were not allowed in the pens with his dogs and they were most definitely not allowed out to play with us. His dogs were there for a purpose, not to be coddled and treated like a babies…at least that was his perspective; though we could often be found petting and feeding them through the fence when he wasn’t watching. I never knew what kind of dogs my granddaddy might have in the pens in his back yard, as his attachment to those dogs was purely a business arrangement. One visit he might have Coon Hounds or Black & Tans and the next a whole pack of Beagles. He even belonged to a “Dog Club.” What they did at the Dog Club is still a mystery to me, but I suspect it had a lot more to do with eating biscuits and yacking with his buddies than anything else. Even when he was too old to hunt, he and his brothers and buddies would build a fire at the edge of his yard, sit around and listen to the dogs of other hunters run and bay in the darkness.

It is funny that my affinity for hunting dogs hasn’t really translated to the dogs we have owned. We spent almost 14 years sharing life with an amazingly intelligent, but very prissy, red Chow named Cheinne. Then there was that less than intelligent cross between a Chow and what I assume was a big black Lab traveling man, named Dixie Belle. Currently, I suppose, I have the closest thing to hunting dog I have ever had in our Golden Cocker Spaniel. It gives me some kind of thrill to see her set up when she has spotted an evil squirrel stalking our back yard. In truth, she is about as much a hunting dog as I am a hunter. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t dream about having a Blue Tick or even a Blood Hound of my own one day…maybe I will just go sit out by my fire pit and imagine barking in the distance.