squirrel
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2013
- Messages
- 761
Wrote this a little while ago when I felt I could do it. It got published and being its the winter thought some of you might have time/inclination to read it. He was my buddy. You don't pay for the dog when you buy the puppy, you pay for the dog when you dig the hole.
My boy Cody came to me without warning with a phone call from my wife’s cousin, who had a litter of pups from their very good hunting dog Cheyenne. It went about like this, “hey Kevy we have a leftover pup ‘ya want him?” “yep”. And so it was settled, except for the tormented wailing of my golden loving wife, the racist who thought it sacrilege to own a yellow lab. I kept selling the “its just a shorter haired golden, he’ll fit right in” line to no avail. Cody even came delivered as the ‘Uncle in law” had cattle to deliver nearby and dropped off a very playful puppy a few days after the deal was struck.
Cody knew right away he belonged, as he went straight into my wife’s sewing room and laid out a nice pencil log for her to clean up. He was about 10 weeks old and very light yellow, perfect for cornfield goose hunting. I had big plans for him after enjoying many a day watching his Mom work the Platte River for Nebraska ducks and eastern CO cornfields for geese. But first he had to be properly trained, I set right to work on that. Cody was a little hard headed but had a gentle heart, physical discipline was not the way to get him to obey, but being a “golden guy” this was fine with me, I was used to it.
There was never a doubt as to who his human was, we bonded immediately and the hostility of the evil wife never left anywhere else for him to look. He adored my older dog Topaz and tormented him endlessly, eventually giving him cauliflower ears from all the chewing. Topaz took it all like a champ and gave Cody a good role model for working construction sites. Find a good comfy spot with a view of Dad working and sleep until its burrito time… And don’t pick fights with the other work dogs or you get left home.
I don’t know that Cody ever got in a fight, he just got beat up. He was so easy going he simply wouldn’t even defend himself, even against tiny aggressive dogs he always just wanted to get along and play. But boy could he play, that silly pup had enough energy for a whole litter of pups. His grace, speed and agility were absolutely astounding to watch. But man was he a handful inside the house. At the time we got Cody we hadn’t had a puppy for 7 years, we had to re-adjust our behaviour and re- adjust our household to accommodate the little blonde buzz saw. MY wife came up with a slightly less favourable nick name for him, Blond Headed Pimple Puss… APPARENTLY she still held a racist grudge against my little buddy.
Along came September and he had gotten on her last nerve for one too many times and she screamed at me to “take that dog camping and come back when he’s a good dog”. Well… you don’t have to ask me twice. I left for WY elk the next day…
Right away he demonstrated his idea of proper elk hunting when he refused to stay at the tent and made his own doggy door through my new tent. I always train my dogs to heel at a quiet finger snap and pointing with my finger beside my boot. While Cody did learn this signal and understood it, his obedience could best be measured in seconds, not minutes before the world outside of that little circle just had to be sniffed. It was a very fun month of camping and archery elk hunting, but getting within 40 yards of an elk with Cody at my side was not in the cards.
Eventually I ran out of food and season days and headed home to see if he met his good dog requirements yet, it was a very short test that he failed spectacularly. Good thing it was now
CO elk season, so off we went with a string of llamas and the wall tent. This one doesn't have a floor so he wouldn’t have to modify it with a doggy door.
Cody immediately fell in love with wall tent camping, he had a stove, a cot, and a million acre yard. He still hadn’t discovered boats yet but for now wall tent camping was good enough for him. The elk part wasn’t really high on his list though, as demonstrated on opening day. I woke early and excited for the opener, still do and hope it never changes. We chose our gulch for the day and headed up after tending to the llamas. After an hour climb in the dark we snuggled and waited for light to see if we had chosen well, we had, there was a nice 5 point bull about 400 yards above us. As I weighed my options for a Cody assisted stalk a shot rang out far above us and the bull spun and ran right at us. Cody saw him at about 300 yards as he was closing on our position about as quickly as an elk can, which down hill is pretty darn quickly… As the elk got closer Cody started doing figure 8’s around my ankles trying to hide from the attacking elk. Things were getting bit out of hand with me on a steep side hill, with a dog trying to make me fall down, and an elk about to run me over. Finally at 20 yards the bull saw the shit show going on right in front of him and skidded to a stop to figure out what it was exactly he was seeing, it was likely a first for him, it certainly was a first for me. As Cody tried to climb my leg from inside the cuff of my pants I took “steady” aim and missed that bull cleanly with a scope sighted .300 from 20 yards away. I spent the next 3 days looking for him, or any sign of a hit, and never found either. No ravens, no magpies, nuttin’.
But the weather was beautiful and the wall tent living was Cody’s version of heaven, as long as the elk left us alone, which they did.
Again, running out of food and season dates sent us back to the castle for the “good dog” test, which yielded the same result. The good news was that WY rifle elk had just started and the wall tent was still in the truck. We grabbed 50# of Purina from the basement and off we went.
Winter found us in a big way as we went north and we set a very cold snowy camp from the truck, not in the back country as getting to the T/H we had snow coming up over the hood of the truck with all four tires chained up and spinning. It didn’t matter as the elk were coming to us in a big way. Cody being a puppy and without much hair had issues with the cold but still refused to stay at the tent with the stove. So when we sat he had to be inside my parka, and having a wet puppy inside my parka didn’t allow me to sit for very long without freezing my ass off. So I decided to keep it active, we would track elk, which is an easy sell for me as I have always loved doing it. We took the chained up truck each day to cut a fresh track (or 20) and off we would go. It was far harder to find a spot to pull over and park the truck without blocking the road than it was to find fresh tracks, we were over run with elk. Keeping Cody at heel was the challenge as I worked the tracks and struggled for a glimpse of elk at mostly spear throwing distances in heavy thermal bedding cover.
After several days I was trying to untangle a maize of tracks in about a foot of fresh snow and Cody decided something up ahead needed his attention enough the he ignored my finger snap/pointing routine. Even quicker than he disappeared he came back fast as his little legs could churn through the snow with a pissed off, ears back cow, trying to stomp his little pimple head into the dirt. Just as he hit my legs to hide behind me I took her down with a head shot at about 5-6 yards, Cody strutted over and sniffed her like he planned it all out…
After the fact investigating indicated that Cody had poked her in the ass with his nose as she was bedded and she had probably launched her counter attack to teach him a lesson not knowing he had reinforcements in the rear. But Cody had survived his youthful indiscretion and now discovered one of his true talents, BUTCHERING. He swelled up like tick until it just started squirting out of him, thank goodness he was camping and not at home in the castle.
When we got to the castle the test was failed yet again and we grabbed another bag of purina and took off to KS to sit in trees am/pm and chase birds mid-day. Except for me leaving him to sit in trees he thought this was just another chapter of Cody heaven. I took Topaz with us which helped him deal with the boring part of his unsupervised day, but I cant say Topaz enjoyed it much though. After a couple weeks the evil one wanted to join us for a trip to Nebraska for deer season, and made a few snide remarks about “returning Pimple Puss” for a refund (he was free, and delivered, so she thought it only fair to take him back and drop him off). She pulled into our bachelor camp and we car-pooled the 5 more hours to her families ranch. Her car was crammed with hunting gear and 3 dogs, and one was wound up like a 10 day clock. She had planned ahead though and had a bag of dog biscuits with her which she crumbled into tiny cubes and made him sit still before he could have his little crumb.
That one bag lasted the whole 5 hrs. And he sat so cute that her icy heart melted a bit towards the little guy, and there was no more talk about dropping him off. After a few days in NE we did the reverse drive (with biscuits) and I stayed In KS until the season ended and it was time to go home, and when we arrived there was no test, just a spot open on the bed.
My boy Cody came to me without warning with a phone call from my wife’s cousin, who had a litter of pups from their very good hunting dog Cheyenne. It went about like this, “hey Kevy we have a leftover pup ‘ya want him?” “yep”. And so it was settled, except for the tormented wailing of my golden loving wife, the racist who thought it sacrilege to own a yellow lab. I kept selling the “its just a shorter haired golden, he’ll fit right in” line to no avail. Cody even came delivered as the ‘Uncle in law” had cattle to deliver nearby and dropped off a very playful puppy a few days after the deal was struck.
Cody knew right away he belonged, as he went straight into my wife’s sewing room and laid out a nice pencil log for her to clean up. He was about 10 weeks old and very light yellow, perfect for cornfield goose hunting. I had big plans for him after enjoying many a day watching his Mom work the Platte River for Nebraska ducks and eastern CO cornfields for geese. But first he had to be properly trained, I set right to work on that. Cody was a little hard headed but had a gentle heart, physical discipline was not the way to get him to obey, but being a “golden guy” this was fine with me, I was used to it.
There was never a doubt as to who his human was, we bonded immediately and the hostility of the evil wife never left anywhere else for him to look. He adored my older dog Topaz and tormented him endlessly, eventually giving him cauliflower ears from all the chewing. Topaz took it all like a champ and gave Cody a good role model for working construction sites. Find a good comfy spot with a view of Dad working and sleep until its burrito time… And don’t pick fights with the other work dogs or you get left home.
I don’t know that Cody ever got in a fight, he just got beat up. He was so easy going he simply wouldn’t even defend himself, even against tiny aggressive dogs he always just wanted to get along and play. But boy could he play, that silly pup had enough energy for a whole litter of pups. His grace, speed and agility were absolutely astounding to watch. But man was he a handful inside the house. At the time we got Cody we hadn’t had a puppy for 7 years, we had to re-adjust our behaviour and re- adjust our household to accommodate the little blonde buzz saw. MY wife came up with a slightly less favourable nick name for him, Blond Headed Pimple Puss… APPARENTLY she still held a racist grudge against my little buddy.
Along came September and he had gotten on her last nerve for one too many times and she screamed at me to “take that dog camping and come back when he’s a good dog”. Well… you don’t have to ask me twice. I left for WY elk the next day…
Right away he demonstrated his idea of proper elk hunting when he refused to stay at the tent and made his own doggy door through my new tent. I always train my dogs to heel at a quiet finger snap and pointing with my finger beside my boot. While Cody did learn this signal and understood it, his obedience could best be measured in seconds, not minutes before the world outside of that little circle just had to be sniffed. It was a very fun month of camping and archery elk hunting, but getting within 40 yards of an elk with Cody at my side was not in the cards.
Eventually I ran out of food and season days and headed home to see if he met his good dog requirements yet, it was a very short test that he failed spectacularly. Good thing it was now
CO elk season, so off we went with a string of llamas and the wall tent. This one doesn't have a floor so he wouldn’t have to modify it with a doggy door.
Cody immediately fell in love with wall tent camping, he had a stove, a cot, and a million acre yard. He still hadn’t discovered boats yet but for now wall tent camping was good enough for him. The elk part wasn’t really high on his list though, as demonstrated on opening day. I woke early and excited for the opener, still do and hope it never changes. We chose our gulch for the day and headed up after tending to the llamas. After an hour climb in the dark we snuggled and waited for light to see if we had chosen well, we had, there was a nice 5 point bull about 400 yards above us. As I weighed my options for a Cody assisted stalk a shot rang out far above us and the bull spun and ran right at us. Cody saw him at about 300 yards as he was closing on our position about as quickly as an elk can, which down hill is pretty darn quickly… As the elk got closer Cody started doing figure 8’s around my ankles trying to hide from the attacking elk. Things were getting bit out of hand with me on a steep side hill, with a dog trying to make me fall down, and an elk about to run me over. Finally at 20 yards the bull saw the shit show going on right in front of him and skidded to a stop to figure out what it was exactly he was seeing, it was likely a first for him, it certainly was a first for me. As Cody tried to climb my leg from inside the cuff of my pants I took “steady” aim and missed that bull cleanly with a scope sighted .300 from 20 yards away. I spent the next 3 days looking for him, or any sign of a hit, and never found either. No ravens, no magpies, nuttin’.
But the weather was beautiful and the wall tent living was Cody’s version of heaven, as long as the elk left us alone, which they did.
Again, running out of food and season dates sent us back to the castle for the “good dog” test, which yielded the same result. The good news was that WY rifle elk had just started and the wall tent was still in the truck. We grabbed 50# of Purina from the basement and off we went.
Winter found us in a big way as we went north and we set a very cold snowy camp from the truck, not in the back country as getting to the T/H we had snow coming up over the hood of the truck with all four tires chained up and spinning. It didn’t matter as the elk were coming to us in a big way. Cody being a puppy and without much hair had issues with the cold but still refused to stay at the tent with the stove. So when we sat he had to be inside my parka, and having a wet puppy inside my parka didn’t allow me to sit for very long without freezing my ass off. So I decided to keep it active, we would track elk, which is an easy sell for me as I have always loved doing it. We took the chained up truck each day to cut a fresh track (or 20) and off we would go. It was far harder to find a spot to pull over and park the truck without blocking the road than it was to find fresh tracks, we were over run with elk. Keeping Cody at heel was the challenge as I worked the tracks and struggled for a glimpse of elk at mostly spear throwing distances in heavy thermal bedding cover.
After several days I was trying to untangle a maize of tracks in about a foot of fresh snow and Cody decided something up ahead needed his attention enough the he ignored my finger snap/pointing routine. Even quicker than he disappeared he came back fast as his little legs could churn through the snow with a pissed off, ears back cow, trying to stomp his little pimple head into the dirt. Just as he hit my legs to hide behind me I took her down with a head shot at about 5-6 yards, Cody strutted over and sniffed her like he planned it all out…
After the fact investigating indicated that Cody had poked her in the ass with his nose as she was bedded and she had probably launched her counter attack to teach him a lesson not knowing he had reinforcements in the rear. But Cody had survived his youthful indiscretion and now discovered one of his true talents, BUTCHERING. He swelled up like tick until it just started squirting out of him, thank goodness he was camping and not at home in the castle.
When we got to the castle the test was failed yet again and we grabbed another bag of purina and took off to KS to sit in trees am/pm and chase birds mid-day. Except for me leaving him to sit in trees he thought this was just another chapter of Cody heaven. I took Topaz with us which helped him deal with the boring part of his unsupervised day, but I cant say Topaz enjoyed it much though. After a couple weeks the evil one wanted to join us for a trip to Nebraska for deer season, and made a few snide remarks about “returning Pimple Puss” for a refund (he was free, and delivered, so she thought it only fair to take him back and drop him off). She pulled into our bachelor camp and we car-pooled the 5 more hours to her families ranch. Her car was crammed with hunting gear and 3 dogs, and one was wound up like a 10 day clock. She had planned ahead though and had a bag of dog biscuits with her which she crumbled into tiny cubes and made him sit still before he could have his little crumb.
That one bag lasted the whole 5 hrs. And he sat so cute that her icy heart melted a bit towards the little guy, and there was no more talk about dropping him off. After a few days in NE we did the reverse drive (with biscuits) and I stayed In KS until the season ended and it was time to go home, and when we arrived there was no test, just a spot open on the bed.
