guard dog

GUARD DOG
this is our guard dog named
maverick

our two dogs
mother and daughter
died a few months apart from what was thought by the
vet to be a brain tumor
genetic i presume

we were looking around for a dog to replace these two
someone i worked with said
i have this dog
that we have to pen up all the time since
we dont have a fenced yard to keep him in
and
she didnt feel right keeping him penned up
all the time

so i went over to her house to see him one day
no one was at home so i walked up to the cage
where he was

i think or at least i felt that way
if he could have gotten out of that cage
he would have eaten me alive
my what big teeth you have as i viewed him from
the other side of my truck
just in case he got out i could jump in the back
of my truck

there is no way in hell i want that dog

i told my wife she about him
she said i want to see him
so
over we went while the dog owner was there

well that guy was the sweetest guy ever
out the cage he went
running around in the neighborhood
then he came back

he licked my wife and even licked me some
nothing like my solo encounter with him

so we took him
up he jumped in the truck
sitting between my wife she and i
slobbering all over the truck
with an exciting look on his face
i wanna go home with you guys

that was 12 years ago

heres what we have learned about mr maverick

when a stranger comes to our property
he does that guard dog thing he did on me
folks wont come inside the gate
now living in the country thats a good thing

i now call him our burglar alarm system
i doubt that few folks are brave enough to enter our
property
only a ups guy and the tax assessor office have tested him
one of them i should have pretended we werent there
bet you can guess which one

now mr maverick
loves my wife
if i ever laid a hand on her
i think he would eat me alive

now he also dont like armadillos
if they come on our 1 acre fenced area around the house
they never leave on their own two feet

now the other 9 acres are theirs and other animals to play on
and
dig in
and live

now he is gentle also
licking our previous male cat named peaches
why he was called peaches is another story
and
letting peaches sleep on him

we call him a horse and cow whisperer
the neighbors horses and cattle
just come up to him and rub noses
they seem to have a silent conversation with him
they arent that way with other dogs

once when he had a large wound from a wire
from a fence he crawled through
i was cleaning the wound like i would a patient
he looked at me with those eyes
clamped down on my hand
just enough to let me know to stop what i was doing
let that wound heal on its on is what i did
for
i saw what he did to that big ole armadillos back
once

he loves kids
but
to be safe when kids are around he is always penned up
in a caged area that is 20 ft x 40 ft

but one flaw mr maverick has
is
that he hates gun shots and hates storms

ive seen him on a clear sunny day start acting crazy
wanting in the house
getting there if at all possible
then
later that day here comes one of those texas weather changes
with thunderstorms and lightning

hes better than any weather app you could get on
the iphone

when they hit he is going to get onto our fenced in porch
if he cant chew or force his way through the gate
somehow he appears in his hiding spot between a
rainwater tank and our hot tub
never can figure out how he get there
he feels safe there i guess

we even have a large dog house inside our enclosed garage
that he can get in
heck i even feel safe going there during a big storm
but
not mr maverick

he wants his spot

so i acquiesced yesterday
i fixed the gate to our patio
so that he could push it open when he needs to

now hes happy
he promised
i wont get on the porch unless that storm is a coming

so
sometimes you have to compromise some
and
think outside the box

the organicgreen doctor