Log, One Of My Heart Dogs

This is Log

He is one of the most loved dogs in my life.  He was born in 1984 I think, maybe 83, which would have made my girls 7 and 8.  His mother was a cross breed some friends from Kansas City had found and decided she needed a country home (with us?), she was a German Shepherd and Irish Setter mix.  More on her in another post but she wasn't a heart dog till she was older.  Logs father was the Saint Bernard next door.

I wish I could find some younger pictures of Log but he was a cute cute puppy.  Why Log?  Because he looked like a stump when he was sitting down when he was a puppy, solid and squat and sturdy, just a block sitting there waiting to get back up and follow you somewhere.

This picture was of a fairly young Log I think.  You are probably thinking what a horrible horrible looking dog.   He was beautiful inside.  He would do anything for the girls and I, anything.  All he wanted to do was be with us and follow us.  He never had any true understanding that he was the biggest dog and would try to crawl on our laps all his life though.  He reminded me of a giant stinky Dispatch.

He did bite some people.  Some had chased him on 4 wheelers, some he THOUGHT had chased him, Log was big and a bit freaky and people liked to tease him.  My father had a business though and the dogs were used to people coming and going.  One man was teasing the kids when Log was still growing (teasing in good fun he was a friend of the family and was surrounded by relatives and other men) and the girls were squealing.  Log decided enough was enough and went after the man.  He let the girl go and all was well in the world after that except Log didn't like that man either ever again.  That's the first time we knew Log was a little different than the other dogs.  He wasn't vicious @ all, a baby could have done anything he wanted to Log just as long as it didn't involve hurting me or the girls.

My brother probably wouldn't like me telling this story but my brother is big, over 6 ft.  Log adored my father too but he drew the line there as far as men, other relatives weren't included.  So my brother would sometimes bark @ Log.  Log would run, brother would pretend he was getting Daddy and the game was on.  Back and forth they would go and then brother would eventually feed Log a candy bar and all was forgiven (our dogs ate chocolate daily,  my dad sold it in his shop and we didn't know it was really supposed to be poison, our dogs ate chocolate ALL The time).  Like I said my brother is big and Log wasn't 100 lb I don't think but we didn't weigh him, he was WAY over 60 I know.  But here were these three, two big men and a big dog playing and playing....

One day a salesman came to my parents house.  Log wasn't particularly fond of my mother but she was part of his pack and we all lived on the same farm, I happened to be outside helping mom with the flowerbed or something @ her house.  The salesman was selling cemetery plots or burial plans, I can't remember.  Younger big and cocky man.  Well cocky for awhile.  Mom got tired of listening to the guy and told him to leave, he kept talking and mom started getting mad.  Mom was a schoolteacher and had her faults but lack of words was never one.  She started getting that tone and then was yelling @ the salesman to get back in his car.  Log had been laying under something in the shade.  The big cocky saleman became a big FAST salesman when he saw Log coming after him but the moment I told Log to stop he stopped. I admit I didn't say stop to till he was fairly close behind the salesman but the he had been told repeatedly to get back in his car and was making me a bit nervous too.

Log was afraid of storms, not badly terrified but leery.  One spring day a tornado formed close by Log usually obeyed but he decided that day he was a house dog and he was going to be an under the FURNITURE house dog.  We didn't get a direct hit but it was close.  After that we watched the dogs when there was a tornado warning, they were better than the radio and tv.

Log was a faithful companion for 12 years which is actually pretty long for a dog of his size.  One hot hot summer day we left for a wedding and there was no Log to greet us when we got home.  He was chasing us up the driveway and had a heart attack and died.

OH, I forgot to mention that.  Log chased cars.  We had several dogs and a long driveway and they chased cars.  Never could break them so we just didn't hit them and they stayed out of the way, it's a gravel driveway and most of the dogs were huge so it wasn't any great effort on the human or the dogs part not to get in each others way.  Log had another habit.  He bit car tires as he was chasing them, his teeth weren't very pretty either.  Log was a bit rough around the edges but he was a dog with a heart as big as he was.

We still talk about him often which is as big a tribute as any dog gets I suppose.