Rat-dogs

My family always had big ole man-dogs. My Uncle raised coon dogs, like Blue Healers, Bassets, Beagles, Irish Setters, the kind of dog that can be trained to hunt. He taught them to hunt just about everything, squirrels, rabbits, dove, mink, raccoon, you name it. He was good at it too. His dogs could carry an uncooked egg in their mouth without cracking the shell or even getting it wet. He made big bucks training and selling these dogs. He also raised rabbit and mink. When fur coats were popular he made a fortune.

My father raised German Shepherds. He trained them for the police department. He too was good at it. He trained his dogs in German. They could do just about anything, sit, lay, stay, heel, count, add, subtract, too many tricks to even list. Just like my Uncle, he too made big bucks training and selling these dogs.

I hated these dogs and was scared of them. They were big and mean. Just about all of my siblings and cousins had a scar from a dog bite. I had one too!

Once the sun went down the dogs were put in kennels at the back of the yard. At night the dogs were in attack to kill mode. We knew better than get close to these kennels.

I also had big man-dogs. Only because I was too much of a wuss to break the tradition and buy a little dog. We poked fun at small dogs calling them rat-dogs. Now that was the worse thing you could call a dog!

One night it was pouring down rain. The electricity was out. I could hear a whimpering and scratching at my front door, but when I looked outside I couldn't see anything on the porch. It was just too dark.

The whimpering went on until curiosity got the best of me. I opened the front door and there sat a little bitty ball of fur, soaking wet and all muddy. I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and picked it up. Much to my horror, in the dark it looked like a skunk. I screamed and threw it back on the porch. I watched it through the window for awhile. The lights went on and I realized it was a Terrier, a rat Terrier, yep a rat-dog. I got the towel again and picked it up.

It was really cute and grateful. It licked me all over my face and neck. It cuddled up against me and wouldn't let me put it down. Just the cutest little thing.

When Stevie came home the rat-dog went crazy with excitement. He whimpered and cried and got all excited. He instantly became Stevie's next best friend.

We had no idea where this dog came from. We went door to door, but no one claimed him. Then after about two weeks Ms Jennie, one of our neighbors stopped by. It was her dog and his name was Widow. We thought she said Little, cause he was sooo small, but no it was Widow. Ms. Jennie was a movie star and had acted in the silent movie The Widow. So that's how he got his name and that's how we got hooked on little bitty rat-dogs.