Animal Tales IV: Henry Herman and Texas Pete

[tinhuviel]

Henry Herman was my very best friend for 16 years. He was a blue tick beagle who had this perpetual expression of peevishness that endeared him to almost everyone who ever had the privilege and honour to meet him. Like any dog, though, Henry had his moments, especially when he was a youngster. One such moment occurred when he was right at two years of age.

It was early in the morning and I was heading out to work. At that time, I had just gotten the yard totally fenced and installed cattle gates through which I could drive my car. It was a brilliant idea, I thought, to have the car parked inside the fence. Henry thought it was brilliant too 'cos he had all this room to run around in. He was so thrilled that he wanted to stay outside the night before and listen to the call of the wild, so to speak.

So, anyway, I went out to the car and tried to start it. Nothing. I tried again. Nothing. I called Timothy and told him I'd be a little late, that I was having car trouble. Janice took me on to work and Granny & Aunt Tudi called Joe Rogers, our mechanic at that time, to ask him to bring us a battery, 'cos that's what we figured was the problem. Yes, Joe made house calls for his favourite customers. I miss that man....

Joe came out with the battery and installed it. He tried to crank the car and there was.....nothing. Right about that time, Henry trotted up to Joe with a wire in his mouth. Joe took it from the crazy beagle and inspected it. He then stooped and looked under the car where there were strewn a multitude of chewed wires of varying length. In his boredom during the night Henry had proceeded to chew all the wiring out from under my car. D'Oh! So Joe went back to his garage to get supplies and returned to rewire the entire underbelly of my sorely abused vehicle. While he worked, he suggested to Granny that we smear the underside of the car with Texas Pete sauce as that would keep Henry away from it.

"First you should give him a piece of bread soaked in Texas Pete. It'll burn his mouth, but it won't hurt him seriously, just enough to make him want to stay away from it."

So Granny got a piece of bread and doused it with Texas Pete. She gave it to Henry, who was a total whore when it came to food. He ate it enthusiastically while Granny, Aunt Tudi, and Joe watched in anticipation of smoke coming out of my precious pup's ears as he ran to the water bowl. But it didn't happen that way. Instead, Henry licked his lips and sat up on his back legs asking for more. Again....D'Oh!

So I bought more fencing and had the cattle gates relocated to section off a parking area separate from the rest of the yard. This way Henry couldn't get to the car, but he still had all sorts of room in which to scamper about and bury his rawhide bones. For years after that incident, neighbours would come up with various wires and ask me if my dog needed a special treat. I told them only if it were garnished with hot sauce, thanks.

Har dee har har.

Comments

[onyxblue1.livejournal.com]

Dogs are special . . . in so many ways.:-)

[demonicanevil.livejournal.com]

Yep... Had to be your dog... :D

[green-goblin70.livejournal.com]

Henry was a lovable dog.

You ever notice how you love those that abuse you so?

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

Yes. Kinky neh?

[trelina.livejournal.com]

That is exactly what Sunny would do!!!!!! When she was still a puppy and going through that chewing phase and hadn't quite got the "hold your pee until you're outside" thing down, people would say, "Give her sour apple or lemon juice when she messes up. That'll teach her."

Yeah right. The only thing it taught her was to love sour apple and lemon juice...and onions and tomatoes and orange peels and coffee and coffee beans and...my dog's a freak!

I love that Henry utterly dismantled your car though. That's great!

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

He wanted to be a bad mechanic when he grows up.

Have you tried Sunny on bananas? That was Henry's favourite food. He'd climb your frame like a monkey for a banana.