Bubba Gets An Edu-mi-Cation

 

Bubba -our half lab, half chow mixed dog

Bubba Gets An Edu-Mi-Cation

by Dana Koogler 

Friday February 19, 2021

   We lived on a 250 acre farm way out in the country in Virginia.   It is still owned by our family.   It is 30 miles as the crow flies from the West Virginia state line.  It is 23 miles to the nearest town.  It is about that distance in any direction to any kind of town.    Karen Gordon and her family got a black puppy from a relative.  She brought it to see us.   Kenny got wind of it and had to see it.  I knew right then we were getting a puppy.  He and the kids loaded up and went to pick one out that evening.  He brought home the fattest little ground hog of a pup you ever saw. He looked like a little black woodchuck or a log with stumpy legs, fat paws, and a purple tongue.   We ended up naming him Bubba.

Above: our farm in Springtime. Looking across the cow pasture back toward the house and barn.  

Below: coming up the front walk toward the house. The house is pre civil war era construction.   This land and farm out here is so ancient it was part of the Beverly Patent.. a land grant from the King of England!   There are steps to a super old meeting house down near the bridge over Moffatts Creek.   The steps are newer, but the site was pre Revolutionary War according to a neighbor.  

   His mom was China, a pure bred cinnamon chow who was an excellent mommy dog.   She had a fling with a pure bred black lab.. the dad.  So instead of having pure bred chow puppies to sell, Angie ended up with a cute bunch of mutts.  Chowadors!     He was the best dog we ever had.  Though he looked dumb as a box of rocks, he was super smart.   He had all the wonderful traits of both breeds and none of the bad ones.   He had fat paws with double squish, four wheel drive pads.  He was squat and muscular. He loved water.  He had a block head.  A huge purple tongue hanging out much of the time.   He seldom barked. He was a dog of few words.   He was fiercely protective of us and loyal as a chow is.  When he felt upset his hackles rose and he had a big hump on his back like a brahma bull. 

    A chow is a one person dog.  That is part of what they were bred for.   Chows were bred partially to guard the Emperor in China. They had fat paw pads to walk quietly in the palace.  They only liked the Emperor so if anyone tried to harm him they could not command the dog, and would be attacked.  They seldom barked as you don't want a yapping dog annoying the Emperor and his court.    They only bark if they have to or feel threatened. 

They don't warn you they are going to attack.  They were also bred for eating in China and had loose folds of skin and tended to be fat.  

      A lab of course is friendly, loveable, easy going, gets along with pretty much everybody, loves water, loves to fetch.  They are descended from Newfoundland retrievers.. Viking dogs who are used to this day to rescue drowning victims.   They have the instinct to help and protect humans. 

     

  

Above: Bubba stretched out on the floor of our garage.  He was hot natured and loved the cool cement floor 

Below is a look at the side of the barn from the house

Above: a big foot hut we found in the woods high above the house on a hill! ;-) 

Above:  side of the house looking from the direction of the barn. Kenny and James working on fixing fence. 

Above: our spring fed pond down at the bottom of the bluff way behind the house. 

The stream flows down out of the pond in small cascades and joins Moffatts Creek eventually.  Bubba loved this pond and swam in it often.  It was a good fishing hole and a good place to sit quietly and watch wildlife.  Beavers, muskrats, minks, ducks, racoons, possums, cranes, fish, turtles, frogs, and once even a mountain lion!  

Below: is our loooong driveway from the road to the house

Below is the sign at the end of the driveway and the little clump of trees that was Bubba's hiding place.

   Now Bubba never understood why his kids Jared & Crystal should leave every day and go to  "skule".   He objected strongly to this.  He was protective and felt if they were to go to skule.. he should go along to keep them safe.  I would get dressed for work and take them in the car to the end of the driveway and sit and wait on the bus.   They'd get on and go to school and I'd pull out behind them and head to work.   He began chasing the car out there. We did not like him coming out near the road.  He had no reason to need to be near the road when he had a 250 acre farm to roam freely.  His only reason for it was to either try to prevent them from going to school or to go with them.   He was a free dog and we'd never tied him up. for anything.   He could run so fast and so hard that he flung gravel with his fat feet.  He put a star in my windshield one time from it!  

        We had to buy a short tie out chain and start tying him up briefly. 

I'd set the alarm and get up and feed him then tie him up until I'd put the kids on the bus. Then instead of leaving right away I'd take a couple minutes to go back and untie him for the day prior to leaving for work.    He learned the pattern and soon started running off earlier.  Kenny started setting the alarm and he'd get up and feed and tie him before HE left for work. Then I'd let him loose before I went to work.   He learned that pattern and lo and behold one morning at 5:30 a.m. he was up and already gone!   

   Kenny told me what happened.  I called for him as did Kenny, but there was nothing for it.    I went to put the kids on the bus that day. We sat there waiting as usual.   The bus pulled in and bus driver Margaret opened the door. My kids got out of the car to get on the bus.  Out of the brush on the knoll behind the bus came a flash of black fur.   It was Bubba. He ran like a lightning bolt and got ON The bus successfully for the first time.  The kids were embarrassed and went to crying. 

The bus driver was terrified of this big black dog.  I did the only thing I could. I started laughing.  It was hilarious to me.  I was not a big fan of the cowboy hat wearing, wig wearing bus driver so it tickled me that he made it on there and she was scared.   I finally got him dragged off the bus.  

   The kids went on to school and I put Bubba in the car with me to drive him back to the house.   Many was the morning we'd look out across the fields early and see him sneaking very quietly, very non chalantly toward the little knoll and its patch of woods to hide to try to go to skule.  Though he tried many more times he never did make it on the bus again.   I finally called the principal and teachers and explained what was going on.  They let me bring him one day to see "skule" and find out where his kids were going during the day.  Once I took him that seemed to help.   

    Jared and Crystal were little and did not understand why he acted the way he did.   I have always been crazy and made things "talk" to my kids.   I made Bubba "talk" to them to explain his reasoning.  He wanted to go get an edu-mi-cation so he could learn to read and write and spell. He wanted to be  a smart dog.  

 If he didn't go to skool how else was he going to learn to do those things?

          They laughed and had fun trying to reason with him that dogs did not need to go to school for those things.  He was a one of a kind. 

Bubba's Tricks and Commands

• sit
• stay
• heel
• roll over
• play dead
• speak --softly
• speak loud
• say your prayers-my dad taught him to be a Christian dog 
• high five
• shake
• kill the woodchuck
• seek-- find something by smell

above and below. Dana and Bubba.  He was my most special dog ever.  More stories to come on how he saved me a couple times.