What a Good Dog!
by Scott Rossow

I am lucky enough to be able to combine two of my favorite things, my Zuk (off roading) and Brandy.  Most of ya’ll know about my Zuk already so let me take a minute to talk about Brandy.  She is a two year old Catahoula and Chocolate Lab mix.  I got her as a puppy from a good wheeling buddy; we knew she was a keeper when my daughter and I picked her out.  Her dad, the Lab, loves to fetch.  So much so that if you ignore him he will poke you in the crotch with his soggy, nasty tennis ball, leaving embarrassing spots and stains.  People pretty quickly learn not to ignore him when it is time to fetch.  The mom is a pure breed Catahoula, as far as I know all she does is lie under the porch dreaming of all the squirrels that used to be in the yard before she caught them or drove them away.  A dog has to be pretty darn fast to catch a squirrel where we live…no fat city squirrels around here, only the lean, mean and tasty ones.

When my daughters and I went to pick our puppy they all went to hide under the porch with mom except for Brandy.  She went to my daughters and firmly let us know that she was ours.  I love it when things work out like that.  It was not very long before we found out that Brandy is a great woods dog, she loves water and really likes to play in the mud.  Her coat is so short and fine that even after extended time playing in the gooey stuff she appears clean as soon as she is dry.  Not that she really is clean, more than once she has made my wife mad by covering something in the house with dried mud.  Hey, that’s why we put in tile floors, right?  When it comes to trail riding all you have to do is say “Load up” and she is in the Zuk and ready to go!  If you try to leave without her she will run after the truck until you either stop and let her in or chase her home.  No amount of chastising can stop her, as far as she is concerned-she IS going.  When my daughter or one of my friends rides along they have to get in the truck first or else there is a fight for the front seat.  She is adamant that the passenger seat is for her and never really understands why those other people are always getting in HER seat.  Luckily she does not want my seat; I guess she understands that if I don’t get to drive we aren’t really going anywhere.  Knowing that she understands that is pretty astounding, especially since I am pretty sure that Catahoula is French for—dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks.  I have seen her do some amazingly stupid stunts.

Like the time she dove into a gooey mud hole that was deeper than she was tall, not once, but two times.  Both times I had to go in after her to free her from the nasty suction so she could get out.  The second time I was laughing so hard at her that I could barely get to her.  She got even with me though; she “loaded up” through my already open door and proceeded to shake off all the mud everywhere in the Samurai.  It took an hour to clean that mess.  That almost convinced me she was smarter than she acts sometimes.

Then there was the time we were getting ready to ride out on a sunny, but cold December afternoon to see if we could find any mud out in the National Forest.  Brandy was running around acting wild, clearly excited about the upcoming adventure.  I called her and she did not come running like usual, she was too busy bothering my wheelin buddies to listen to me.  So I shouted the magic words, “Load up”.  She came at a dead run and took a giant leap to get in the back of my tintop—only I had not opened the back door yet!  She banged head first into the door at full speed and knocked herself completely out.  For about 30 seconds she laid there on the ground, long enough for me to have a brief OH HECK moment and then to marvel at the size of the dent her head put in my back door.  Then she got up and started walking around a little so I joined my buddies in laughing hysterically at poor Brandy.  She must not have had too bad of a headache from the impact because she managed to pull herself together and join us in an afternoon of trail bogging.

At the very least I smile every time I see that dent, but she only recently had her proudest moment.  The Tallahassee Off Road Club was part of a large clean up here in the Apalachicola National Forest.  People from all walks of life showed up to help clean the forest that day, including some hard core anti-recreationalists, you know, the self proclaimed environmentalists.   While we were getting organized early that morning one of their leaders was showing off his new pride and joy, a Toyota Prius.   He kept talking about how good for the environment he was with his flashy little car.  Apparently, Brandy didn’t like his attitude or else really liked his car because as soon as he opened the door to show one of his buddies the interior she loaded up like a champ.  Then she would not get out!  Front seat, back seat, rear cargo area and then back to the front.  She was all over that car, everywhere but out.  I was trying to get her out but she was not listening to anyone.  To be honest I was trying harder not to laugh than I was at getting her out of that little car.  Finally she jumped out the hatch and loaded right back up in my Samurai.  I have never seen her looking prouder.  What a good dog!

How about you?  Tell us something about your furry wheeling buddy.