Bubba's Anti Smoking Campaign

 Bubba's Anti Smoking Campaign

by Dana Koogler 

written 10/25/2022

Above: our dog Bubba lying on the floor of the back porch

The little crate is for my in law's dog Heidi who was a mini dachshund.  

   Many years ago when we still lived on our Virginia farm we got a black puppy who looked like a ground hog.   He was fat as a butterball and had huge paw pads. 

He was a chowador. Half purebred chow and half purebred black lab.   He got all the good qualities of both breeds, but none of the negative ones.  He was the best dog ever.  He crossed the rainbow bridge about 2011.    

        

         Back when he was a puppy I began working with him to train him to see what he could learn to do.   I had him where he could sit, stay, heel, speak loud and soft, shake, high five.   I was trying to teach him to find things by scent. Tracking things. Each day I practiced with him when no one else was around to distract him.    I would put something good smelling out like a small piece of bologna.  I would command him to stay while I hid the item in the house.  I'd go back to him and let him sniff my hands and give him the command "seek".   It did not take him long to understand what I was wanting him to do.  He would hunt for the bologna and find it and eat it.  He liked this game and understood "seek" meant to identify and find things by their smell.  

     I did not realize the full depth of his comprehension or devotion to me.

He knew mom wanted him to find by smell.  He also learned that smells might mean something was not right.    I did not realize this until one evening in September.

      It was during that time of year when the evenings have cooled off and the days are getting shorter.   The kids had started back to school and were in bed asleep by nine o'clock.   Now Bubba hated steps.  He would use them, but he did it grudgingly and with great care.   He was built funny and his fat feet did not make it easy for him to be nimble.   I had put the kids to bed and I went downstairs to where the computer was to check my email.   Back during the days of dial up internet it was not a quick process.   As I sat there waiting for my yahoo mail to load up I heard the clunk, clunk, clunk of the dog slowly coming down the stairs to the basement. I had left the door open upstairs.  

    Bubba came round the desk and took my right wrist in his teeth to lead me.

The look on his face was imploring me to come right now!  I knew something was off to motivate him to come down the stairs to get me. He had also never taken me by the wrist this way.   I followed him and he lead me out to the garage through our screen door and out of the garage door into the night.  Kenny was out there by his work truck in the dim light.   I asked him "Whatcha doing?" to which he replied "Oh nothing. I had to get something from my work truck." 

  I could smell cigarette smoke in the air plain as day.   I laughed and said "Nah, yer out here smokin' ".   Kenny never liked to let anyone see him smoke especially me or the kids.  I think it was so he wouldn't get fussed at or set a bad example for our kids.   He looked at me and asked "How did you know?"  ( as if I didn't have a nose and could not smell the smoke)  

  I glanced down at the dog who looked at me as if to say " You see mom! He's doing it again!"  I laughed and Kenny's jaw dropped. All he said was "You cain't trust nobody!"  😂

        Bubba had ratted him out.  Somehow that smart boy knew Dad was up to something questionable. He came and told me about it.   Seek to him meant any suspicious smell and that apparently included cigarettes!

Above: My blocked headed boy... so smart and brave.  How I miss him.