Tuesday, May 15, 2012

City Dog LOVES the ranch!

Greeting from Elkhorn Creek Ranch near the epicenter of the Bakken Oil formation.  Some of you know Gunner, some of you do not.  Other affectionate terms for Gunner:  G-dog, damn it dog, city dog.  Gunner is a Boykin Spaniel:     http://www.boykinspaniel.org/ .  And yes, that is clay mud on his head, face and ears.  Voluntarily earned in the name of entertainment.

Gunner is 100% good spirited, 100% naughty dog and definitely has some serious city dog tendencies.  There are MANY great Gunner stories, but one of my favorites goes something like this.... the farrier was out trimming and putting on sharp shoes a couple winters ago.  Gunner would affectionately rub his nose on the arm of, put his mouth over the hand of, and whine at the farrier until he would drop a horse hoof for him.  Gunner would 'mock 10' out of the barn with that hoof in his mouth and then return a few minutes later without it, but ready for another.  He did this over and over again.  Finally, I had to go see what 'was up'.  All I could see out the door of the barn on the snow covered hill side was a little brown, nubbin tailed butt with white powder flying.... high and far.  I of course burst out laughing.  The farrier was curious what was so funny, as he personally was at the point of annoyance with the Boykin.  I explained that Gunner was hiding his treasures from Tyra (our black lab) and certainly not sharing with her.  The farrier's response, "City dog".  It stuck.

Gunner is not our dog.  He is the proud member of the Murphy family.  My sister Kim, brother-in-law, Lee and nephew Jaden are Gunner's 'primary managers'.  Gunner spends a significant amount of time at the ranch and he truly LOVES every minute of it, even when Tyra is trying to either ditch him or set him up for 'the fall' and when Kyle is busy telling him how naughty he is.  City dog loves all the ranch has to offer.
 One favorite traveling place, on the flatbed of the Ford.  Here, he and Chance (our stud horse) are trying to come to a consensus over who actually has jurisdiction over the flat bed.  Chance wants to put his nose in to see if there might be a bucket of oat or a bag of mineral.  Gunner barks and nips at him when he tries.  Finally, they came to an agreement.  And just for the record, the two of them really do like each other, as well as tormenting each other.

Below, we stopped to fix the water tank.  The cows had knocked a brace down, got to the float and of course broke the float arm causing the tank to flow over in between daily checks.  Gunner is in the middle of enjoying his luscious score (watered down calf poop).... I personally don't get it.  City dog was an interesting attraction for the baby calves, but there was no way he was going to let them scare him away from his find.  Finally, I had to do it, "Damn it dog, get outta that. Gross."  And he did. 

Gunner and Tyra are both currently laying on their rugs in the mud room, dreaming away with their little puppy paws going 90 miles an hour.  I suspect Tyra is dreaming of flushing roosters and Gunner is busy running away from baby calves.
So from our little piece of heaven at the end of the road, here's to companionship and lovin' where you are and what you're doing...... JUST like Gunner!

2 comments:

  1. Yay! I think I finally figured out how to comment! :)

    That being said... I can just picture Gunner rolling in the muddy poopy water... and even better, I can actually HEAR you say "damn it, dog, get outta there. Gross." :)

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  2. OK, I feel the need to defend my husband's dog a little...He really does try to be good, it's just not in his nature!?

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