Puppies Galore

My neighbors have hunting dogs. Blue tick coonhounds. They give off an eery howl ever so often, and also love to escape. I have gotten to know these amazing dogs on the many occasions they have jumped ship and come to my house for a visit. Patsy is the mom, and Tillis is the dad. Get it? Patsy Cline and Mel Tillis?

Tillis only gets out periodically, he is an elegant fellow. Patsy on the other hand, practically lived in the yard when she was a pup. We could never figure out how they escaped. But they did. And what fun.

Tillis, as do some of his other dogs, escape for one reason only. They want to go hunting. My neighbor has gotten phone calls from the park, saying your dogs are here. 27 miles away. They have even been found further than that. On their way to Okeechobee. They usually run to their hunting camp. Without fail, the way to catch them is head toward camp. Problem is they travel "as the crow flies" while people can't do that. You have to catch them when they traverse one of the roads out there. 67,000 acres of swampland. Too funny.

I guess that is the epitome of the breed. Get thru whatever you need to, to get to what you are hunting. When Billy goes out hunting without them, they howl a sad tune, for hours. But that is only if they can't get out. If they do, they follow him. No matter how long ago it was he took off, the dogs will find him. It's quite funny. I get all panicky. I call him letting him know i just saw his dogs running down the street. He casually says, not to worry, they'll find me. Or they will come home... and without fail, they DO.

On February 6, Patsy had 10 pups. The runt died. and that leaves them with 9. 6 females and 3 males. What funny little pups. Its anarchy. They have already started with the sniffing, the climbing, the fence jumping, the howling, and all those things that make it hard to keep them on the property. I wish i could see them all at 6 months, driving them crazy trying to keep them in the yard... But that won't be happening. There has been a constant barage of takers for these pups. Their reputation precedes them. I hear they are quite the catch. I see it with Tillis, he is the head honcho. All the dogs respect him. And i have NEVER seen him fight. Not once. I have never seen him do anything more than look at another dog and that dog will look the other way, back down, or do something subordinate. Its amazing.

When Tillis first escaped into my yard it was nerve wracking. I have a pot bellied pig and goats. The goats look like deer. And the pig is well, something they like to hunt...but Tillis is fine. He knows the difference, or so it seems. And when he comes over its to check things out. Make sure my dogs respect him as well, and then he jumps the fence onto greener pastures...

Yes, it did cross my mind to take a pup. But, can i control him? will he be happy doing nothing? I'm not so sure. These dogs love to hunt. And they love to escape. They live for it. You can see it everytime they escape and start running down the street, always heading to camp. One time they were so excited, that they couldn't wait for the swamp buggy to start moving, they jumped off it and just started running. They were found at the entrance to the park.

But aren't they cute. I took these pictures this weekend. Waiting till there eyes were open and they started moving about...