Dogs
~ story and photo by Jeff Tryon
When I was growing up in Brown County, dogs pretty much ran free as you please.
Oh, the coon hunters kept their precious charges properly caged unless they were on the hunt, and the occasional seriously mean dog might be confined by the chicken coop or the garden gate, but as a rule, dogs ran free as the breeze.
In a small town like Nashville, everybody pretty much knew who each other’ s dogs were. As late as the 1970s, when Dave Gore’ s dogs would up and go to town for a little visit, after they had hit a few shops, made a little mischief, and generally made a nuisance of themselves, someone would recognize them and call Dave, who would go fetch them home in the pick-up truck like truant teenagers.
As a young boy growing up in the woods, the family dog was my constant companion, ever present guardian, and substitute babysitter. We would wander for a mile or more away from home, off into the woods during the long summer days of school vacation. If we got lost, we could always just follow the dog home.
Dogs ran free, but of course, we also knew that if a farmer saw a dog chasing his livestock or otherwise getting into mischief, he was likely to shoot him, and you would have no recourse or complaint. But that was just part of the adventure of a country dog’ s life. As far as I know, there was no animal control officer then.
Now you can’ t take your dog anywhere off of your own private property without them being on a leash.
48 Our Brown County July / August 2017
All the best dogs I have had were strays. They just wandered up and made themselves at home. Usually, they had escaped from harsh treatment, a bad situation elsewhere, or at least had suffered the privations of being on the road alone with no ready resources( a condition I myself have had some acquaintance with) and so they really appreciated a good home.
The best dog I ever had, in fact, the best dog ever, period, was a stray that wandered up our house that Mom named“ Tramp.” At first, when he just showed up and started hanging out, Mom would try to run him off and she absolutely forbade anyone to feed him. But Tramp just calmly and meekly waited her out. He had already made up his mind that this was going to be his home.
He was a wonderful dog, intelligent and intuitive, brave, adventurous, and loyal to fault. He had a great sense of humor. There are many tales I could tell of his exploits and adventures, too many to relate here, but suffice it to say that at that time and place, a dog could live a gloriously free existence, live more or less as an equal to the children, and as valued friend and family member to the adults.
Now I have a little lap dog who also came to me more or less by accident. Although she is a purebred dog, she had bounced around a couple of homes through a divorce and various other family dislocations.
She had arrived with all the quirks and emotional baggage of her previous lives and families. But she, too, appreciates finally having found her permanent home.
And, though I was reluctant to take her in the first place, this little dog has been better than medicine for me. I have to walk her every day, and that has proved useful in getting me in a little better physical shape.
She greets me with excited joy each morning with all the enthusiasm of a royal lackey. I am not a morning person, really, and I find this an encouraging way to start my day. She’ s just happy to be alive! I sit there and have some coffee and pet my little dog. It’ s good therapy.
I used to think that the reason we love our dogs so much is because they give us unconditional love. But I think the real truth really is that we love them so much because they give us someone to love unconditionally, no strings attached, without consequence or expectation— someone to lavish with our love safely. •