A Reluctant Hero

I guess some dogs are like some people, they don't like to have their picture made.  This is Sadie, our Redbone Coonhound.  She had just terminated two rats that came out from under a cover and not only dispatched them about as quickly as I saw them, but laid them by the gate to be carried out to the trash.  I told her she was a good girl and petted her and then asked for a photograph, but she muttered something about no makeup and not having combed her hair and this is what I got; a hero hiding her face.

This morning she got me up just a little earlier than normal.  Her baying indicated that something wasn't right.  When I came outside she was waiting by the back door to tell me that the trash cans had blown over.  Oh, well, it was almost time to get up anyway.

Animals, like people, need gainful employment.  Sadie's job is to guard the backyard from invading critters such as squirrels, opossums, raccoons and yes, rats.  You don't normally see rats, but every place where humans live has them.  Sadie also is to let us know if anything is wrong outside the house.  We know when visitors come and she seems to instinctively know the ones she can trust.  Suspicious strangers need not apply for entry.  She probably would do well with the Border Patrol, or as Airport Security.

Sadie is sometimes a bit moody.  If you don't scratch her behind the ears when she expects it, she will go off and sulk.  Sometimes, it seems as if she is trying to talk to you.  She makes a strange ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo noise that literally sounds like she is trying to form words.  Sometimes I think she is explaining something to me, or perhaps complaining about something Jake (a very large mixed breed dog) did or, making sure I know it was him and not her that did something they weren't supposed to do - like digging in the middle of the yard.

Nearly every animal I've ever been around has a discernible personality.  Sadie's is the most unique one in my experience.  This post is in her honor as the Rat Catcher of the Year.  I don't think she's figured out this Internet thing yet so, she will need to have someone read it to her....