Badger

Badger was the dog I got about a year after Thunder passed. He was a Rat-Terrier. I bought him from a farmer who raised the breed. It was not a puppy mill but a farmer who loved the breed and took very good care of his dogs and kept their area clean.  Badger was 6 weeks old when I saw him and I picked him because he was the smallest and he bit me. I thought it was because he was feisty. I didn't realize until he became older that it was because he was an arrogant jerk.

He was easy to raise and train. He learned early to go to the door when he had to go out. The problem was he loved it outside and went to that door often. And at 6 months old, he had the other animals hating him. To the point many times I had rescued him from angry cows and horses.  Even the geese ganged up on him. Must have been that habit he had of peeing on them. Something I know he did for revenge after one day of chasing cows and one kicked him. He never chased them after that but he would catch them off guard when they were laying in the field and pee on them. In fact, he did that to any animal that made him mad.

Badger would also pick out who he was going to sleep with then get in their lap and stare at them with half closed eyes when he was ready for bed. If that didn't work then he would go to the bottom step and bark until either you told him to be quiet or you got up and went to bed. And he always got under the blankets down by your feet to sleep. He hated winter and being cold. When the furnace blower would kick on, he would stand on the register until it kicked off. Then he would run to the couch and get under the afghan I kept there to stay warm.

One day I was walking out to feed the chickens. I had a pail of water in one hand and a pail of feed in the other. Badger caught one of the horses laying down and he walked up and hiked his leg. The horse jumped up and Badger took off in a run with the horse behind him. The horse jumped the fence and was right behind Badger. And they both ran straight for me. I had the horse on one side and Badger on the other then Badger got tangled in my feet and I landed on the ground. I was soaked from the water and the feed pail went flying. It ended up on the ground with feed all over. I grabbed Badger and threw him at the horse. The horse bit him on the rear, Badger yelped and took off running into the house. I put the horse back in the pasture.  A couple hours later, Badger was outside and walked right by the horse that was standing by the fence. The horse whinnied like he was laughing at Badger. Badger growled and kept on walking. He never peed on that horse again. In fact, he stayed away from him that day on.

One day I walked out and noticed the cows in a circle with their heads down and I heard the familiar growl of Badger. I don't know what he did but he had the cows mad enough they had him surrounded. I ran out into the middle of them and grabbed Badger and took him to safety.  He went back to the fence and kicked his hind legs at the cows and then walked off with his head held high like he didn't have a care in the world.

There are several apple trees on the property. When apples fall off the trees, if they lay long enough they ferment. Many times I have seen the horses and cattle eat them and get "drunk". The squirrels eat them too and one squirrel in particular, that is always hanging around the house, is a mean drunk. One day I heard a commotion outside. It was Badger barking and the squirrel chattering. I went outside and the squirrel had Badger up a tree while he was on the ground chattering and wouldn't let Badger come down. I never laughed so hard in my life! I chased the squirrel (I  named him Stubby because he has a short tail for a squirrel) away and helped Badger out of the tree. It was a short tree with limbs close to the ground so he wasn't up very high. I still do not know how he climbed that tree.

Badger had more courage than brains. He would go after anything no matter how big or small. And as arrogant as he was, he would do his best to be a good protector. When coyotes would come down out of the hills, he would go after them barking. I would have to call him back to keep him from getting hurt. Once when he saw a raccoon by the creek he went running after it. The raccoon grabbed him and held him under water and if I had not yelled, it would have drowned him.  Badger was a good mouser. Just as good if not better than any cat. More than once he tore up the house going after a mouse. Once he saw one, he never gave up until he had it. He was also a good snake killer. 

I don't know for sure what happened to Badger. I have always believed that coyotes got hold of him. I let him out one night and he never came back. That was not unusual because sometimes he stayed outside all night. Especially in good weather. The next morning when he still was not home, I went looking for him. I found part of him on the far side of the pasture. I never found all of him and can only assume something big got hold of him. I buried him there and put up a small stone for him.

I had Badger for almost 5 years. Losing him was as painful to me as losing Thunder. Even with all his faults and as aggravating he could be at times, he was a great dog.