Snake eyes, When he was about 14 it swelled up full of blood and was the size of a bloated tea bag. We lanced it and it curled up like that for the rest of his life. Weird huh?
How I got him:
I was 5 and he showed up one day way out in the country. He was a few years old then and he went everywhere with me. Back then I had the run of the place even at 5! Had a pond to fish withing 200 yards of the house, so that is where I was most of the time. Anyway, I called him Brownie and he was MINE (in my own mind).
Unfortunaely, my grandfather had a squirrel and some geese that he fed all of the time and Brownie killed them all in a short time period. My dad told me Brownie would have to go and took his .22 down from the wall. I will never forget that morning that Dad walked out the door, I heard a shot and Brownie screaming until he was out of earshot. I hated my Dad at that point. Brownie was gone for about a month, then I saw him again, hiding in the fence row!! I was so happy and we immediately were friends again. I went and talked to my grandfather about it and told him Brownie was mine (gramps called him RED) and that I would try to keep him from killing anything else if he would tell dad not to shoot him again....so he did! Luckily, Gramps didn't have any other pets, so I didn't have to worry about it much.
About a year later mom and dad went out for a date and my Aunt came over to babysit. It was past dark and I saw a small light out the window moving... a cigarette moving around the house in the darkness! We lived WAY off the road, so it was not a good thing. I ran and locked the doors, told my aunt and about that time we heard Brownie tear into someone and heard him YIPE really loud, evidently they were packing a bat or something. It was scary!!! I can't remember if she called the police or not, but after that day Brownie was good to go at the house...
Sorry for going on about him, but as I mentioned: he was the best dog in the world.
Wess