Tajy

My dog had been killed. She wasn't the best, but we loved her. Mom at first thought that it would be okay with just a small dog in the house, until someone pulled up into the driveway. We never found out who.
"I want an outside dog." Mom complained to my Dad. "There are to may things happening around."
Mom had been a small woman from the start, but arthritis had left her barely able to move sometimes. She had a strong spirit, though. So Dad relented. I was sent to a shelter, that had been set up in Woodward. The people knew me and wanted to help.
"What kind of dog do you want?"
I just shrugged and walked down the small alley in front of the runs. I looked at the small and not-so-small yappy dogs dissapointed. They were only a little bigger that our tiny ones inside. Then I saw him.
The black and silver german shepherd just watched us as we stopped to look at him.
I had found him. I watched as he got up, went to the front of the run, sat down, stared with a 'Yeah? Hi.' face. He didn't bark, whine, or make any sound. But he was huge.
"What about him?"
"The owner had two. He didn't want the male, just the female. He said they had papers, but didn't leave them."
"That's okay. How much?"
For fifty dollars, we became the proud owners of a six month old pup, that almost filled the back seat of the car. I took him to see my parents at our small cafe, and both agreed that he was perfect. He fell instantly in love with my mom. All our animals did. I got to name him Tajy, because when he lay down and look around, it looked regal.
First thing we did, was bathe him. He didn't like it, but when Dad said 'stay', he obeyed. His coat was a beautiful silver gray with a black saddle. His ears had already perked, so he had a good profile. He was kept tied out side, right at the front door. There was a leash law in Oklahoma. In bad weather, he was permited inside with the family. The one bad problem, he was so big and still a little clumsy. You could hear him tromp around the house. He grew and grew! By the time he was two, Tajy almost two feet tall at the shoulder. But we found out he could be gentle.
One time we were coming home and Tajy, as usual, greeted my Mom. He seemed to know Mom was delicate, but he accidentally bumped her into my Dad. Dad hit him one time, shouting, "Don't do that again!" From then on, Tajy would stay at least five inches away from Mom as she pet him. As I said, he fell in love with Mom. Just her giving him a pat on the head, sent him into wiggles. His ears would be down, his tail would look like it would come off, as hard as he would wag it. He would sit, his body shaking, looking up at her with adoring eyes until she stopped, then he would move off satisfied.
My brother had gotten married and had a son. He moved away for a while, then decided to move back when his son was 2. Tajy at the time was 3 and had hardly ever been near my nephew and his mom, but he accepted them. At this time we had moved into a mobil home outside of town, on two and a half acres of land. Tajy was let loose.
We had heat and air, but to save money, we left the doors and windows open most of the time. As I said, my brother moved back and came to live with us. His son was the first grandchild, so Mom doted on him. He had the run of the house. My sister-in-law let him out one day so he could toddle around. My Dad and brother were working on a project away from the house. I don't remember exactly what they were doing, but Dad said to be safe not to go over there. We turned our backs for a moment when we heard my nephew screaming his head off. We ran to the door and saw him standing with Tajy in front off him. My nephew was screaming, pulling hair, and hitting Tajy's side. He stopped screaming and tried to go around him toward my Dad and brother. Tajy moved in front again and stood still as my nephew screamed and pulled his hair. All of us couldn't believe what we were seeing. Again my nephew tried to go around Tajy and again, Tajy moved in front of him, blocking his way. His mother got his and took him back into the house as my Dad and the rest of us, praised Tajy for what he had done. How he knew, only God knows. Tajy was a good dog.
I have to write about something that happened before we moved out of town. One day, Tajy got off his chain and dissapeared. When he woud do that, we got in the car and drove around. Tajy would soon be running beside the car and we would pick him up. This day, we couldn't find him. Dad and I looked as much as we could before and after work. The next day, Dad went to the pound. If you've ever been there, you know how noisy it can get. As soon as Dad entered, all the dogs started barking and howling. Through the cages, Dad spotted Tajy, calmly sitting with the chaos around him. The man there, came up to see what Dad wanted and Dad said he had come for his dog. The man told him if he could prove it was his, he could have him. Dad walked over to the front of the cage and called Tajy. Tajy began to howl with pleasure at seeing Dad. The man was surprised. He said it was to bad Tajy had an owner, because he wanted him for himself. He had fallen for that sweet dog.
The winter of '87 was not hard, but we did get some snow. We had a fireplace in the Mobil home; go figure. One neighbor had moved away and left a pile of wood. Dad decided to get them and stack it near the house. He found an old back of a wooden chair and tied a piece of rope to it. It made a passable sled. He put a smal stack on the 'sled' and pulled it to the house. He was puffing by the time he made the sixty yards back and there was a big pile left. Tajy was playing and barking at him. Dad looked at the sled and Tajy and decided to put the dog to work. I had a horse and her halter was in the house. Dad put the halter on Tajy and tied him to the 'sled'. Tajy, at four, didn't know what to think of that thing behind him, but Dad got him to the wood. He made Tajy sit as he put another stack and tied it down. He got in front of Tajy and said. "Pull!" Tajy sat, staring at him. Mom and I were watching from the trailer, trying hard not to laugh. Then Mom had an idea. She got an old sandwich from the fridge and told me to show Tajy. I did and ran back to the house with Tajy pulling the 'sled', Dad running behind. We had a laugh as we gave Tajy the sandwich. The next time Dad loaded up and told Tajy to pull, the dog didn't need coaxing. We laughed for days, of how Tajy would run to the tailer, pulling, and poor Dad running to keep up.