The Star Tribune stopped carrying the daily Ballard Street cartoon to my great disappointment. It's always full of oddball whimsy and social misfits. I'm trying to get the cartoons emailed to me daily so I can get my Amerongen "fix".We once had a dog who was always struggling to be the pack leader. Her name was Kippy and she was a small black mutt of terrier descent with brown eyebrows. Whenever we were out walking she had to be in front, sometimes straining so hard on her leash she'd choke and cough.
Once when we were camping in the woods, the whole bunch of us were walking down a gravel road surrounded by forest. Because of the remote location, we let Kippy and our male spaniel Pepper off the leash. As we strolled along, Kippy was happily leading the pack when I spotted a porcupine on the road ahead. The dogs hadn't seen it yet but I knew when they did, they would take after it. Porcupines are slow and dumb but they can do a lot of damage to an unsuspecting attacker.
I told everyone to turn around quickly and we started back the other way. Kippy, desperate to lead the pack, raced back to get ahead of us and good old Pepper followed. Disaster averted.
Kippy and Pepper are long gone now, but they were family members for many years. We still talk about them fondly from time to time.
6 comments:
I remember the incident well. Kippy was the leader and we kids, her pack. All dogs since are compared to Kippy in my mind. I can still hear Russ, my cousin, singing "Hey Kippy Ann whats your game now, can anybody play ?" to the tune of the song, Carrie Ann. She was a great dog.
What a beautiful story...Kippy truly came alive for all of us.
Oh porcupines can do damage for sure. My son's dog went after one, not once, or twice, but three times and got quilled every time! Not too smart that day.
Wonderful story!
Great cartoon to go with your story!
Our newspaper just carries the WORST cartoon strips...really awful ones that are completely at odds with the community. I have to go online to follow any of my favorites!
I remember and miss my departed pets, too...Kippy sounds like she was very vivacious!
Good story..I still think about our cocker spaniel that was stolden from us.
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