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| Our sweetheart, Lucy. |
So, I married a farmer as you all know, and one thing I figured out right away when marrying Jeff was that he had this belief, as a lot of farmers do, that animals don't belong in the house. At that time he had made it very clear to me, as I did have one spoiled little cocker spaniel at my parent's house when we were dating, that she was not moving in with us and we likely wouldn't have a dog in our near future.
At the time this wasn't that big of a deal to me. My parents were more than thrilled, with their baby moving out and getting married, that I was leaving my dog they had gotten so attached to with them. I knew she would be well taken care of by them and I still got to see her a lot and the subject of a dog didn't come up for quite some time, at least not until our kids, Sam and Zach, started getting a little older.
In 2006 I made the mistake of calling a Puppies For Sale advertisement on our wall at work. It caught my immediate attention as they were cocker spaniel puppies and I called it. I knew Jeff wouldn't be happy but I knew two little kids that would! I surprised them one night after work by picking them up at their sitter that afternoon with a new little puppy in my arms. Of course they loved her, I had forgotten how much work puppies were, and well, needless to say, when Jeff came home that night he was NOT happy. In fact, so unhappy he didn't speak to me the entire weekend. Shit! There was immediately a bad taste in his mouth about this new little creature and that never really changed.
Unfortunately she wasn't catching on to the house training well, she was destroying things in our house, and I simply felt she just wasn't getting the attention she needed with me working full time and then running with the kids all the time that we eventually gave her away to another family that could give her everything we couldn't at the time. When that happened I really thought there was no way we would ever get another dog until we moved to the farm, and it certainly wouldn't stay in our house.
Well for the next approximately four years that was the case and then sometime in 2010 Zach, being the ballsy little guy that he can be sometimes, decided he was going to approach Dad on the subject again. While he was trying a couple times every week to convince him he surfed local Humane Society websites for what he believed would be the perfect dog. I had made it clear to Zach, that if we did talk Dad into going along with this plan, we were definitely getting a dog and not a puppy again. I just didn't want to go through all of that again, and we also had a toddler running through the house now, and well, that's like a little puppy, I didn't need another one.
Well, much to my surprise, after nagging and nagging, and telling Dad that it wasn't fair that we didn't have a dog when he had one when he was growing up and all that, surprisingly enough Jeff caved in and told us we could get one. I seriously couldn't believe it. There was a clause in this contract though, if the dog wasn't working out here in town and in the house, she would relocate to the farm permanently and hang out with the dog there.
So, with that we headed to the Washington County Humane Society in Jackson to look for our new family member. Our plan when going there was to come back with a little bit smaller dog, as we knew it was going to be in the house, but we all know plans change. It ended up that all of the smaller dogs they had there had aggression issues and with a toddler in our house they didn't think they would work well in our house. Of course, Zach was a little upset as he had his heart set on a dog that wasn't going to work, but I had noticed this sweet dog in the kennel a few over. I wasn't sure what kind of dog she was, but I could tell she just had the best temperament in the world. She just sat there staring at us with those big brown eyes, didn't bark, didn't jump up on the cage or anything. I pointed her out to Zach and asked what he thought. He kind of shrugged his shoulders like he wasn't sure but we thought we would give her a try and took her into a room there to interact with her. It went well! I don't know what it was, but she just kind of called out to me and this was the dog that had to come home to our house.
Lucy is her name, and she is a red tick coon hound, although Jeff has officially started calling her the "red tick farm dog" as she spends a ton of time there too. She was able to come home with us that same day we saw her and below is a picture of her very first night at our house. Do you think she was comfortable here and happy to be a part of our family?
And I can tell you, she made an unbelievable first impression on Jeff because he called me the next morning and told me not to leave her in her crate by herself but to bring her to the farm and he would keep an eye on her. I was shocked!!!
I can't say enough good things about this dog. She has the easiest going temperament and reminds me a ton of the dog I had when I was a little girl growing up. We could do anything to our dog Sassy and she wouldn't care one bit. Same here with Lucy. She is terrorized on a regular basis by Lukas and she just goes along with it. Whether he's pulling her tail, chasing her with his tractors and trucks, or using her as a stepping stool when getting onto the couch, she doesn't show any aggression towards him whatsoever. I think she's just so thankful she has a family to call her own and love her.
There is something to be said for dogs and the companionship and love they can show to people. She is so loyal and listens extremely well. I get a kick out of her when I'm helping in the barn, she is like my little shadow. No matter where I am at the farm, she is usually right behind me. She's got such a quirky personality you almost think she's part human sometimes.
Oh and her bark...something that makes me smile instantly everytime I hear it. If any of you have ever heard a coon hound bark it is rather funny. I can't accurately describe it but I can tell you whenever somebody hears Lucy bark for the first time they usually get a huge kick out of it. And thankfully, she doesn't bark too often. Usually only in the barn at the cats when she wants to drink from their milk bowl or if we have to crate her for a little while when we leave the house, which we rarely ever do anymore.
The one thing she does have is huge separation anxiety so she has her own little "day care routine" now. Two days a week, when Lukas goes to the farm by my mother-in-law when I'm at work, Lucy rides in the truck with me and stays there with Lukas. But here's the kicker, even on the days when Lukas doesn't go to the farm, I still make a special trip to the farm, before dropping Lukas off at his sitter, to drop Lucy off there so she doesn't have to stay home alone. Jeff likes having her around and so does the farm dog. It's amazing to us how well she has adjusted to her two new homes and rarely wanders off.
Who would've thought? We haven't even had her for one year yet, we got her in November, but I can't tell you how much of an impact she has made on our family. I can't picture our house without her in it.
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| Lucy never whines or barks when begging for food. Just waits patiently. |
A few things I've learned after Lucy became part of our life.
The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
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| Luke and Lucy chilling on the couch. |
A dog is the only thing on this earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
~ Josh Billings
~ Josh Billings
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| Luke pestering Lucy again. |
The great pleasure of a dog is that you make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, he will make a fool of himself too.
~ Samuel Butler
~ Samuel Butler
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| Zach with his dog..she's smiling for the picture!!! |
Thank you God for bringing this wonderful creature into our lives!!! So many blessings!!!
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