Bitchy asked me to write a story for him about his dog Dixie (yellow lab). The Jack Daniels website was having a competition where you send them a story about your yellow lab and if your submission was chosen, you received an oil paining of your dog by a well known artist. Cool idea so I agreed to help. Here is the story...
This is not a touching story about a stray dog who adopts a family only to die of rabies. Nor is it a story about the life and love of the world’s worst dog. I’ve always heard the saying there is nothing stronger then the love between a boy and his dog. Well this story epitomizes that bond.
Dixie is not my first dog or even my only dog, but she is the dog that has actually taught me something during our struggles together.
I had recently lost my black lab and after the pain of putting her to sleep, the thought of getting another dog was the furthest thing from my mind. A friend of mind talked me into going to look at some lab puppies that I neither wanted nor could afford…at least that’s what I kept telling myself.
I arrived that fateful day with every intention of leaving there empty handed. Well one look at her, with this cute little ridge of fur that ran down her nose, and I was hooked. She was breed from good hunting stock and that’s exactly what I wanted, so I worked out a payment plan with the breeder and took the little puppy home. I drove home with visions of dozens of blue ribbons hanging on my walls from field trials she would win. It’ can’t be that hard to train a dog to retrieve birds…right? I had successfully trained dogs to do the basics, sit, stay, lay down, etc. The only difference is hunting dogs have to go pick up a dead bird and bring it back…not any different from bringing back a ball and they do that through natural instinct…or so I thought.
Once home, it didn’t take me long to realize I had gotten myself into way more then I could handle. Needless to say do not come with this inherent knowledge for retrieving dead birds. They actually have to be taught how to do EVERYTHING. So, a little down, but not discouraged I headed to the local pet store to buy some training books.
So without going into a lot of details about the hours of miserable training sessions we had, I will cut to the chase. If it hadn’t been for Dixie’s desire and dedication to please me, she would never have placed at her field trials. Through her loyalty and dedication to me, she has taught me how to train dogs and thus helping me realize my own dream of training hunting dogs for a living
Well Bitchy liked the story but wanted a few things changed (to make himself look cooler - that's a guy for ya!). I decided I better check the contest rules to make sure we were meeting all the requirements. I agree, I should have done this first, because low and behold...the story could only be 150 words...WTH? How can you write an endearing letter about a dog in only 150 words and how were we going to condense the letter we had, which was currently at 423 words, down to 150 words without losing most of the content?
Well we did it and here are the results (146 words)...
Dixie’s not my first or only dog, but she’s the one that has taught me the most.
I’d recently lost a Lab to cancer and getting another dog was furthest from my mind. A friend talked me into going to see a litter of pups that I didn’t want.
I arrived there with every intention of leaving empty handed. One look at her, with a ridge of fur down her nose, and I was hooked. Having successfully trained dogs in the basics, it didn’t take me long to realize I needed more knowledge for her reach her potential. Down, but not discouraged I headed to the bookstore seeking direction.
If it hadn’t been for Dixie’s drive and potential, she would never have received her junior title at 18 months. Through her loyalty and dedication, she’s helped me realize my love of duck hunting and training dogs.
Needless to say, our submission wasn't chosen. :)
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