Junkyard Dog

Yea, yea, yea. Yea, he had heard that old song about the dog. he had heard that old man Peters bought a watchdog. So what, I thought. It wouldn’t be like that stuff in the movies. This was real life. A dog as mean as what Hollywood always shows would be too mean for some old man to handle. Probably was illegal; probably doesn’t exist. I wasn’t wrong on just one of those thoughts; I was wrong on all of them. The old man handled it fine; the law didn’t care e existed. The law didn’t care if I existed. I found that out. I found it out the hard way and led to the war between me and the junkyard dog. he sort of knew the dog was going to win but he had to give him a shot.

When he all got started, he didn’t blame the dog for what happened. The dog was just doing his job- guarding. He was just doing his job-stealing. He was a thief who didn’t want to pay for junk and the junkyard was his target. He was the dog’s target. Yep, the dog was everything he was supposed to be and more. He bit him a good one right on the butt. He had to stand up for a week. Sitting down would pull at least one of the 300 stitches the doctor put in. He told him not to move around too much. Take a week and let it heal. A week that he spent planning. A week the dog spent lounging around. The dog was unaware of him and the plot. The dog wouldn’t have cared if he had known. He was, after all, a junkyard dog. One stranger was the same as any other stranger. He was going to bite. The dog didn’t like anyone including the old man but knew where the food came from. If the old man died out in the open all they’d find was bones and gristle.

The thief wasn’t a mean guy. He was just a petty thief.

He took what the dog did a little too much to heart. How to get back at him? Break into the junkyard, of course. He didn’t intend to get bitten again. He’d have to put the dog away somehow. The TV always showed them using tranquilizers. OK. Where to get that stuff. The zoo! He had no trouble breaking into the zoo. They were more concerned with keeping creatures in, not people out. He got into their supply rooms. These look like a gun. Well! They don’t shoot these animals so these must be the dart gun and, Yep, there are the darts. He grabbed a couple of them. He popped the guard off the end of one to see what-ouch!!He the woods surrounding the zoo. He slept for two days. He woke up wet, hungry and dart-less. OK, have to come up with another plan.

Sleeping pills! Why didn’t he think of that first? Grind up some sleeping pills, and put them in a piece of meat. He did have a fleeting thought about what if the junkyard dog was a vegetarian? Nah, that’s dumb. Getting revenge on a dog was dumber but he didn’t think of that. He laced a steak with sleeping pills No dog was going to turn down a steak. This one didn’t either he gobbled that steak down in about three bites. That was scary. Then he walked around for a while. He looked as if in a flash, he could still do a lot of damage. Flash was a word he remembered later. Flash hes all he saw. A big, black flash and then a pain in his butt. He was over the fence again, as well, a flash. The pills only slowed the dog’s reaction down. The dog went nuts but stayed where he was. He tried throwing meat at the far end and tin running back to get on the other side The dog ate too fast. He even brought a female in heat. The female took off as soon as the junkyard dog came sniffing around. Now, the dog was really pissed off.

He gave it up. The dog wins this time. Old man Peters had him beat this time. He knew it.

He went to the junkyard with a friend to get parts for a car. His buddy was going to pay for them! As they walked along the dog suddenly appeared, snarling and growling My friend yelled at the dog and the dog whimpered and ran away. “Man, what a useless watchdog he is,” the friend said.

Old Man Peters and he laughed and laughed.

The police would borrow him when a prisoner escaped. They called him Sniff Guy. The old man called him Hey You. When the cops took him they paid him well. The dog had to be leashed after he tore his first escapee apart. Now he was on a leash to prevent that and to him from wandering off. The dog people picketed him but the old man let Hey Boy loose They didn’t like dogs that much. They decided to protest the police instead The police ignored them like most people did.

The old man entered him at a county fair once. He chased the rest of the dogs off. He won the blue ribbon before he was banned. The dog loved kids. He’d let them run his head and play fetch with them. He was bigger than most of them. A bully once messed with them and the dog jumped the fence and chased the bully home. He couldn’t give the kid rabies as wanted. Even when the dog got sick he was respected. He’d allow people with money in their hand to roam free getting parts they needed. Hey Boy followed them of course. No one was going to steal with him on duty. They’d be lucky to not piss themselves. The only reason they were there at all was the nearest junkyard was 50 miles away.

When he died everyone was pleased. It wasn’t the reaction they thought they should have, Then they found out the old man had a new dog even though he was afraid of it. The petty thief thought its reputation a little exaggerated. He found out it wasn’t.