Jacob Versus the Black & White

In my life I’ve been blessed with a number of great dogs.  One of the best was Jacob, a border-collie mix mutt who was with me from 1975 until 1988.  I've also been fortunate that, until I moved to Davis, I'd always lived in a place which was a great place for a dog to live - lots of freedom to safely roam.

Here’s a story about Jacob.

In 1983 a friend and I went on a camping/road trip through the southwestern US.  We saw a number of great places and climbed/hiked a few mountains.

One of the mountains we hiked up was Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico.

After we completing our hike we went to the Red River cabin of my good friends, Bob & Kay Cady.  We went in the house but Jacob was pretty tired after the hike (as usual, he probably covered two or three times as many miles on the hike as I had) so he just stayed in the camper van.  The van doors were wide open, so he could come and go as he pleased.

By the time we had finished cleaning up and eating it was getting on towards dusk.  I went over by one of the windows and saw a skunk walking across the yard, right in front of sleeping Jacob.

Just at about that moment, Jacob woke. He raised his head and looked at the skunk.  From inside the house I wasn’t positive, but I thought I heard him growl.

My heart sank.  Sure as I’m standing here watching this, I thought, he’s gong to go after that skunk, get sprayed and we’re going to spend the rest of our trip with a foul-smelling dog in the van.

Thanks God we’d just finished a fairly grueling hike.  Jacob, bless his heart, was too tired to do any more than watch and growl.  The crisis was averted.

For another story about Jacob's adventures, click here.