Shug the pup; the story of a real dog

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I Rat Terrier or Hound?.7

II Shug Gets into Trouble.12

II Shug Gets Into Trouble

Ted and Billy had been wishing for a dog for a long time before Uncle Bob bought Shug for them. They had spoken to Father about it a number of times, but he had always put them off. So, when Uncle Bob came to stay with them for a while, they told him about it; for they usually got what they wanted when they told Uncle Bob.

Uncle Bob had always been a great favorite of the boys. He was Father’s youngest brother and all during his college years he spent his vacations helping Mr. Brown with the work on the farm. But after he graduated he went to work and the boys didn’t see him for several months. Then he was sick and now he had come to stay with them again. The boys were happy.

Sure enough, not long after that, Uncle Bob

came home one day with Shug in a little box 12

Shu g Gets into Trouble 13

in his car. He was only a tiny black pup then. The boys were so tickled they could hardly eat their dinner. They fixed up a little dog-house and fed him warm milk until he could drink no longer.

He was a little timid at first, but in a few days he began to follow them all over the place. He grew rapidly and in a few weeks he was so full of fun he wanted to romp and play from morning until night. About the only time he was still was when he was asleep. He would get an old bucket and roll it all over the yard for an hour at a time, growling and barking as fiercely as he could. Then he would start chasing his tail and go round and round and round until he would get so dizzy he could hardly stand up.

One day Mrs. Brown washed one of Uncle Bob’s silk shirts and hung it out on the clothes¬ line to dry. After she had gone back into the house, Shug noticed it blowing back and forth and he at once decided that here was a chance for some fun. He ran over and grabbed first one sleeve, then the other, as they flapped in the breeze.

Soon he got braver and caught hold and swung around and around, tearing holes in the cuff as he went.

About this time Mrs. Brown came out with some more clothes and saw him. She said nothing, but started that way, and as she passed a tree, she broke off a little switch. Reaching down, she caught Shug by the neck and gave him a whipping. He howled and cried loudly and when she let go of him, he ran as fast as ever he could and crawled under the smokehouse. He was much more scared than hurt, however, Mrs. Brown having taken him so by surprise.

Ted and Billy heard his cries and came run¬ ning to see what was the matter. Ted just laughed but Billy, who was the smaller, and much more tender hearted, was almost ready to cry.

Shug Gets into Trouble 15

“The poor little fellow didn’t know any better, Mother,” he said.

“Of course not, Billy,” Mother answered, “but that was the best way to teach him. I didn’t hurt him much, but I frightened him so badly that I don’t believe he’ll ever try that again.”

And Shug, listening from where he was cud¬ dled under the corner of the smokehouse, was certain he never would.

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THE WILD HORSEBACK RIDE

Shug was happy. It was Saturday and Ted and Billy didn’t have to go to school. They lived on a large farm and the boys usually had work to do, but there was always some time for play. Just to follow after them while they were working was better than staying at home alone. Shug didn’t know it, of course, but there was only one more week of school; then the boys would be home all summer.

Ted was ten and Billy eight years old, and Mr. Brown was just beginning to let them ride and drive the farm horses alone. That morn¬ ing he was going over to the large pasture to pump some water for the calves. He told the boys they might ride “Old Doc” and go too. Doc was an old family horse that had been a pet for years, but several weeks before he had become lame, so they had turned him out into

the back pasture and the boys seldom saw him.

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The W ild Horseback Ride 17

Now he was well and they had brought him home and, as Father said, “He looked and acted like a colt.”

They rode slowly out across the pasture and Shug trotted along behind. When at last they reached the well, the boys pumped the little trough full of water while Father was mending a fence; then they climbed up the steep banks of the little stream near by and rolled rocks down into the water.

At last they grew tired and led old Doc alongside the fence and climbed on his back. Father noticed them and told them they would better wait for him, as the horse was pretty frisky for them to handle alone; but they were not the least bit afraid, so they started slowly homeward.

Soon they reached the top of the hill, where there was a long, gradual slope to the house. Ted was riding in front and he thought it would be fun to make old Doc trot a little, so he began slapping him with the ends of the bridle reins. Of course it made the old horse uneasy.

Billy entered into the fun, and began kicking him in the ribs. Doc at once started off into a brisk trot. He bounced them up and down so hard that Ted loosened up on the reins and grabbed hold of the horse’s mane. The horse evidently thought they were urging him on, so he went faster and faster until he was almost in a run.

“Hold on! Hold on!” Ted kept calling to Billy.

“Hold on, yourself!” yelled Billy, who had both arms around Ted and was hanging on with all his might. He was so scared he hardly knew what was happening. On toward home the horse went, bouncing them first on one side and then on the other, until it seemed he would never stop.

Ted thought he saw relief in sight. The pas¬ ture gate was shut, so, if they could only stay on until they got there, the horse would stop of his own accord.

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On they went, until both boys became so frightened their hearts stood still, for Doc was not even slowing up for the gate. What if he should try to jump it? They hardly breathed as they dashed along. There was little time to think, however, although it seemed like ages, and he was getting nearer and nearer.

At last, just as he reached the gate, he planted his front feet firmly and came to a sudden stop and both boys went rolling off into the dust.

Ted was the first one up, and he looked around and saw Billy sitting on the ground with tears in his eyes, rubbing his head and feeling of his elbows. Shug came running up and tried to lick him on the face, so Billy got to his feet.

Mother saw them fall and came running, very much excited. Father, realizing what might happen, had mounted his horse and followed them. He arrived a few minutes later.

Old Doc stood with bent head, looking as though he were sorry and wanted to say so.

The Wild Horseback Ride

Ted and Billy were both talking at once, trying to tell how it all happened.

“Ted fell off and I was holding onto him, so of course I had to go too,” explained Billy.

“Yes, but Billy pulled me off,” was Ted’s hasty reply.

Then they saw how funny it really was and all broke into a hearty laugh.

“Well, next time, I think you’ll listen to what I say and wait for me,” Father said; and both boys readily agreed with him.

IV Shug Becomes A Hero

Mother was greatly annoyed. “Something must be done,” she said one morning at the breakfast table. “The chicken-coops have been broken into three times lately and some of my chickens killed each time. The poor things all seemed frightened nearly to death when I let them out this morning.”

“You’d better tie Shug out there to-night,” began Uncle Bob. “Maybe it’s a bear and Shug’ll kill it.”

Everybody laughed heartily, for of course there were no bears in that part of the country. And even if there were, what chance would Shug have with one of them!

Shug was on the porch and heard what was said. “I don’t see what they are laughing at,” he thought to himself. “Of course if I was out there and a bear came, I’d kill it and I should

think they would be glad of it.” Shug wasn’t

Shu g Becomes a Hero 23

quite certain what a bear looked like, but he felt sure he wouldn’t be afraid of it.

There was more talking, but Shug had heard enough. All that day he wondered and wondered if they would tie him out by the chicken-coops that night. He was not at all certain he would like it. He wasn’t old enough to like to be out late at night. He would rather curl up in his bed and sleep.

He didn’t eat all of his supper that day. About dusk he came around the corner of the house just in time to see a strange black cat eating out of his dish. He growled and started for her. The cat darted away and he followed. He chased it around the garden, then it went over the fence and he couldn’t follow.

He had just turned and started back to the house when he ran into a fuzzy, gray animal about the size of a cat. It didn’t look like a cat, though, and it had a long tail with no hair on it. Shug began barking and growling and snapping at it, but instead of running away or showing fight, it curled up and acted as though it were dead. Shug kept on barking, but the animal didn’t move.

Billy heard Shug barking and began calling, but Shug didn’t want to leave, so he barked louder than ever. After a time Billy came up to see what was the matter. When he caught sight of the animal he ran back for his father.

When Mr. Brown got there he saw at once that it was an opossum.

“Is it dead?” Billy kept asking. “Do you suppose Shug killed it?”

Father laughed. “No,” he said. “It is all right. That is the way opossums always act when they think anything is going to harm them. They lie still and act as though they were dead, so people will go away and let them alone. I’ll just show you,” Father continued. He reached down and picked the opossum up by its tail, carried it to the house and called Ted and the rest of the family to see it. He put it down on the ground and rolled it around,

Shu g Becomes a Hero 25

but it hardly moved. Ted and Billy watched it closely.

“That’s what has been killing the chickens,” Father said. “It had such good luck the other nights that it was coming early to-night.”

He reached down and patted Shug on the head.

“Good dog,” he said. “You got the chicken eater all right.”

Shug never felt so proud in his life as when he marched off across the lawn. “Maybe it wasn’t a bear,” he said to himself, “but I got it just the same.”

y

THE FISHING TRIP

Ted and Billy were greatly excited, for they were going fishing with Uncle Bob and Roy Myers, a neighbor boy.

They took Shug and Roy’s big Scotch collie dog Rover along. They all went down along the stream that ran through the woods about half a mile away.

Shug was so anxious to get to the woods that he would run on ahead and then come back to meet them. They fished up the stream for about a mile without catching any fish or seeing anything except a squirrel that ran into a hollow tree.

After a while they heard Rover barking loudly some distance ahead. They all started to go where he was except Shug, who was so busy barking at a toad that Ted could hardly get him to leave.

When they came in sight of the dog, he was

The Fishing Trip running around and around a large tree, look¬ ing up and barking wildly. As they came nearer they saw a good-sized animal crouched upon a branch, high up in the tree.

Roy and Uncle Bob ran as fast as they could, but Ted and Billy slowed up and came to a stop a safe distance away. They viewed the animal in open-eyed amazement. It was dark-colored and looked like a cat, except that it was too big. It was larger than Shug. It couldn’t be a squirrel, and it was too large for a ground hog.

“Do you s’pose it’s a bear?” ventured Billy in an awed voice, his eyes as big as saucers.

“I— I don’t know what it is,” answered Ted, advancing cautiously a little closer.

Just then Uncle Bob called: “Come here, boys, and see this raccoon!” And, sure enough, it was a full grown raccoon.

“That’s a real one,” Roy was saying. “Do you suppose we could capture it alive?”

Uncle Bob laughed. “I think not,” he replied. “It is too big for the dogs to handle and it would put up a hard fight.”

They watched it a while and then, calling Rover, who did not want to leave, they went on down the stream.

Finally they settled down in a shady nook and Uncle Bob stretched out on the ground, enjoying the quietness of the place. Roy was fixing his fishing-rod and Ted and Billy threw in their hooks and waited.

Pretty soon Billy spied a crawfish lazily sun¬ ning himself on the side of the bank down stream. He rested his pole on the bank and told Ted to watch it, while he crawled over the bank and soon forgot all about fishing.

After a while Uncle Bob was awakened out of a doze by a sharp exclamation from Ted. Something had seized hold of Billy’s hook and was starting to drag the pole down the bank. Dropping his own pole, Ted snatched Billy’s, just as it was about to get out of his reach. Ted was hanging on with all his might and x&ft::

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IS flM W ww calling for help, for he was being dragged slowly down the bank. Roy yelled to him to let go, but he only stuck his feet into the dirt and hung on all the harder. He was about at the water’s edge when Uncle Bob bounded over the bank and took hold of the pole.

Ted was so excited he hardly knew what he was doing.

“Billy! Billy!” he called. “Come here, quick! We’ve caught a whale or something!”

Uncle Bob was down over the bank, letting his victim have its way, somewhat, for fear of breaking the line; but he was trying to work it away from a drift close by and nearer the edge of the water.

“It must be a big one,” he exclaimed.

Billy came running up, breathless and wideeyed. In his eagerness to see what was happen¬ ing, he dropped down on his knees and leaned over the bank. All of a sudden the dirt gave way and he plunged headlong down the bank and rolled over into the edge of the water.

The Fishing Trip 31

Roy leaped after him, and had hold of Billy almost as soon as he reached the water. Billy was too scared even to cry. In the excitement Uncle Bob almost let go of his line.

Roy carried Billy up the bank and then went back to help Uncle Bob. After some time their “fish” was slowly dragged out of the water. It proved to be a large turtle.

“Well, for goodness’ sake!” Uncle Bob ex¬ claimed, and they all joined in a hearty laugh. They carried the turtle up on the bank so the boys could get a good look at it. Pretty soon Uncle Bob said he thought they would better turn it loose and take Billy home for some dry clothes. Billy was more than willing, so they called Shug and Rover and made their way homeward as fast as they could.

VI The Baby Raccoons

About a week after the fishing trip, Mr. Brown learned that some hunters had been in the woods with hounds, the night before, and had captured a large raccoon. Both Uncle Bob and the boys felt sure it was the one they had seen and the boys talked about it a great deal.

A couple of days later Roy Myers, the neigh¬ bor boy, was in the woods looking for a calf that had wandered away. He was going along the stream not far from the spot where the raccoon had been captured, when he heard a strange noise. He listened a while and then, going in the direction of the sound, came to a large hollow tree.

He leaned down, then, and listened again. He heard strange cries and whines of some kind of animals. He gave a low cry, thinking they might come out in sight, but the sounds ceased at once. He wondered if it could be some baby

The Baby Raccoons 33

raccoons. Perhaps the mother raccoon had had some babies and they had been left to starve.

He broke away some of the rotten wood, but found that the animals were down in a hole in the ground under the tree.

He went home and got a spade and a heavy sack and then went back to the woods to dig the baby coons out, for he felt sure the hole was the raccoon’s nest. There were two entrances to the hole, so he put a piece of log in one, and started to dig into the other.

He worked a good while. Finally he reached the end of the hole and there they were, as he had expected, three little raccoons, cuddled up in a corner.

They were so hungry that they came toward him, sticking their noses up in the air. How¬ ever, when he tried to pick them up they were afraid and tried to get away. He caught two of them without any trouble and after a chase among the weeds he got the third one. He carried them home and fixed up a little cage out of one of his mother’s wire chicken-coops. Then he came over to tell Uncle Bob and the boys about the little raccoons.

Ted and Billy were so excited they could hardly wait until they saw them. They went home with Roy and stayed for an hour or two, walking about the cage and watching Roy, who was trying to find out what the raccoons liked to eat. He didn’t know what to feed them, but he soon found out that they would eat bread or potatoes or milk, or almost anything.

Billy watched them a long while, wishing they were his. Then, remembering that he had a quarter and Ted a dime, he wondered if they could buy one. He slipped around and talked it over with Ted, who was very willing. So he sauntered over to Roy.

“What would you take for one of them?” he asked timidly.

Roy laughed. “I don’t want to sell them,” he said, “but I’ll give you one.”

Both boys fairly beamed, as Roy caught one

The Baby Raccoons 35

and put it into a shoe box. They proudly carried it home.

They called Mother out on the porch to show her their new pet. To their great surprise she was not very well pleased.

“I’m afraid a raccoon would not make a very good pet,” she said. “I’m inclined to think it would kill my chickens, when it grows a little bigger.”

The boys promised faithfully to keep the raccoon away from the chickens.

Just then Shug came running up and the new pet was brought out for him to see. It was doubtful whether Shug liked it as well, even, as Mother. It might be all right, but Shug didn’t want too many pets around for fear the folks might forget him. He stood back and watched them feed the little raccoon, all the time longing to grab her by the neck and give her a good, hard shaking.

The boys fixed up a cozy little nest for her in a box in the woodshed and she seemed perfectly satisfied. They named her Sally Ann. In a few days she was very tame and would follow them all over the yard. When they climbed a tree or a fence, she would follow exactly the same way they went. She always walked slowly though, as if she were half asleep.

They began trying to teach her little tricks and for a few weeks she was very tame. Then she grew more and more shy and finally she would run and hide under the wood-pile or the smokehouse every time she saw anyone coming to catch her. They would put food down on the ground and then, when they were a safe distance away, she would come out and eat.

Shug took delight in teasing Sally Ann. He would bark fiercely at her and then she would cuddle down on the ground and he would take his paw and roll her over and over. She soon grew larger, however, and then, when she would get tired of being teased, she would slap his ears or scratch his nose. Shug would whine pitifully at this punishment and go away and

The B ah y Raccoons let her alone for some time. Then after a while he would start teasing her again.

She slept out under the rose-bushes or in the grass by the garden gate, but she never tried to go away, so the boys didn’t keep her shut up.

One morning she didn’t come when they called her. They hunted and hunted in the yard and through the garden. They thought she would surely come back, but she never did. Sally Ann had gone away, back to the woods to live her own happy, care-free life.

VII Ted And Billy Get A Fright

Ted and Billy had some new work to do. Mr. Brown had turned the milch cows into the timber pasture and the boys went down and drove them up to the barn each evening and took them back in the morning. They drove them down the road, almost half a mile, to the gate where they turned them into the field.

There was a small grove along the stream in the pasture and sometimes the cows would not be at the gate in the evening and the boys would have to go down among the trees to find them.

One evening it was almost sundown when they started from home. All the cows were at the gate but old Nig, a big black cow that was a great pet of the boys. She was so tame and lazy that she was always loitering along a good way behind the rest of the small herd.

Ted and Silly Get a Fright

The boys opened the gate and started the rest of the cows up the road and then went to look for her. They called her and pretty soon they saw her coming as slowly as if it didn’t matter whether she ever did get there. So they hurried on to meet her.

When they reached the place where they could see around the bend in the road they stopped short, and looked at each other wideeyed, for there they saw a group of people with three covered wagons camped by the side of the road.

“I believe it’s gypsies!” said Ted, who had heard a story about gypsies not long before.

“What if they should try to steal us?” asked Billy in a startled voice. “I’m afraid, Ted,” he said. “Let’s go home.”

“But we must get Nig first,” answered Ted, who was trying very hard to keep up his courage.

Old Nig was coming nearer, so they waited until she peached them.

“Now I’ll get a stick and make her hurry and you run just as fast as you can,” called Ted, as he started her off into a trot.

Pretty soon Billy began crying and calling to Ted to wait. His feet were tangled up in some weeds and he was having a hard time to get along.

“I can’t keep up,” he sobbed, as Ted ran back to meet him.

By this time both boys were badly frightened. Then Ted had an idea.

“I know what we’ll do,” he exclaimed. “You get hold of old Nig’s tail, then I’ll make her hurry.”

“Sure enough,” answered Billy, as the boys hurried along. The cow had stopped to eat some grass, so it was easy for them to catch up with her. Billy grabbed hold of her tail with both hands and out of the gate and up the road they went. Nig saw that the other cattle had gone on ahead, so it was not hard to get her along.

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Father had told them not to make the cows run, but they were so badly scared they didn’t think of that.

They soon reached home, breathless and ex¬ cited, and Billy ran to the house to tell Mother, while Ted went on to the barn to tell Father what they had seen.

That night poor Billy even saw gypsies and black cows in his dreams.

VIII The “gypsy” Camp

The “gypsies” didn’t go on the next day, but stayed camped by the side of the road where Ted and Billy had seen them the evening before.

Two of the men came up to Mr. Brown’s to buy some corn for their horses. They told him that they had some white ponies with them that they wanted him to come down and look at. Maybe he would want to buy one for the boys.

They were not real gypsies but people who made their living by traveling about the country all summer buying, selling and trading horses. One of the women came to the house, and wanted to sell Mrs. Brown some paper flowers and lace. Father didn’t seem much interested in going to their camp, but Ted and Billy coaxed him to take them, so he did.

The boys were afraid at first. Billy held tightly to Father’s hand and Ted wouldn’t go far from his side. But they wanted very much to see the ponies.

Two of the women were cooking dinner over a small stove on the ground. A ragged little girl was playing with a monkey near by.

The boys were so interested in the monkey that they forgot all about being afraid and kept going nearer to it. Shug was following close behind the boys, keeping one eye on the monkey and the other on a large dog lying under one of the wagons.

Pretty soon the girl called to them to come over and see the monkey. After they had talked a few minutes, she offered to sell it to them. The minute she mentioned selling it, Shug pricked up his ears and listened. Of all the pets he could think of, he would hate most to have a monkey around. It was bad enough to have cats, but to have a monkey—well, that would be the worst thing he could possibly think of. To his great relief the boys didn’t talk much as though they would care to buy it.

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“Does the monkey know any tricks?” Billy inquired.

“Yes, he knows a good many,” replied the girl. “If your dog was larger, I would show you one of his tricks, for he loves to tease.”

She whistled to the dog under the wagon. The big dog got up, stretched himself and came toward them. The monkey jumped out of the girl’s arms to the wagon-wheel. Quick as a wink he leaped from there onto the dog’s back.

The dog seemed to be used to it, for he trotted off across the road as good-natured as could be. All of a sudden he started off on a run, jumping ditches and darting through the bushes. The monkey had to jump to keep from being knocked off. The boys screamed with laughter, as the monkey came hopping back across the road as if nothing had happened.

“Will he jump onto a strange dog’s back?” they asked.

“Yes, he will if he gets a chance,” the girl replied. “Some of the dogs get angry and try

The ‘‘Gypsy’’ Camp

to shake him off. Others lie down and roll over on the ground.”

Just then Father called to them to come and see the ponies, so they ran over to where he was. One of the men put each of the boys on a small white pony and they rode up and down the road.