Chapter 20: Fun in Texas

“We rode down the highway, Broke the limit, we hit the town
Went through to Texas
, Yeah, Texas, and we had some fun”{br}

-Thunderstruck, Angus & Malcolm Young

I woke early the next morning and Matilda was gone. I wasn’t surprised, this had happened before and the only difference was that this time I was sober and could remember the experience.

Breakfast was biscuits with sausage gravy and eggs, the coffee was excellent. The chores were done and Matilda was hooking up her dog cart. Sonya was still in a sour mood and refused to have her spirits lifted; she declined a trip into town preferring to sit at the table and frown at her phone.

I went into town and picked up our packages, restocked my beer supply and ran a few other minor errands. I had a noon appointment with a dog breeder which would be the last stop of the day; I was due to meet Kordi, a black and mahogany rottweiler bitch.

The breeders kennel was another nice suburban setup, he had a huge, fenced yard for the dogs to exercise in and a tiny barn for them to sleep in; everything was clean and neat. Kordi was delightful; she was young and full of energy and exuberance. She wasn’t highly trained like Brin and Mila but she understood the basic household commands. She would require some training on my part but she would also be part of the pack and would emulate the other dogs. Group social pressure works on dogs as well as humans and that was how I planned to spend my future anyway.

We sealed the deal and signed the now standard documents, with a final handshake I loaded Kordi up and off we went to our camp site. Kordi wasn’t very well car trained yet and I feared she may not have been trained to be away from home, I had a very real concern that she might pull a bolter back to her old master and pack. I’d have to keep her on a tether for a long while until she settled down, some dogs never rehome and are basically untransferable; those dogs are best returned to their original masters for at some point they will bolt and try to find their way back home.

I met up with Matilda as I approached the camp site and ended up following her slowly up the driveway as she trotted the dogs back up to the camp site. After we parked I jumped out of the truck and asked Matilda to leave the dogs in their traces, I wanted to control the situation when I introduced them to Kordi. Even Sonya roused from her misery long enough to come over and be part of the action.

I brought Kordi out of the truck and she met both Matilda and Sonya; Kordi was full of youthful energy and lack of disciple. An overly large bundle of happiness was beating us to half to death with her tail and intent finishing the job by licking us the rest of the way. We got her to settle down after a few minutes and then led her over to Brin and Mila, a sniff-fest ensued but everyone seemed amicable enough.

I tethered Kordi to the trailer and asked Matilda to release Brin & Mila from their traces. I won’t say that calmness prevailed but an all-out war didn’t erupt so I thought we were on safe ground. All three dogs were tethered to the trailer and while we did have a brief out-break of dominance regarding their beds again, Mila had decided that her bed would be center of the pack. Sonya voiced concern and I simply stayed out of it. Mila would run her pack as she chose and I knew better than to get involved.

I came to the conclusion that it was best to keep Sonya busy so I decided to take the ladies out to the paddock and teach them how to saddle and bridle Abigail. There was, however, a tense moment when I asked Sonya to leave her phone on the table; I reminded her that this was business and that I needed her complete attention so she ultimately conceded. I’m not sure if she bought that snow job; hell, even I thought that claim was flimsy as could be but it seemed to be my best and only option and she went with it. So off we went for a little bit of equine training.