The dogs got excited when they saw me put a cooler in the back of the truck. It is a pain to always take a poodle and a Lab when we go to the farm, but it is hard to resist the sad eyes if a person were to close the truck without including them. My wife called Damon and Amanda to see if they and the grandsons wanted to go fishing. It took little convincing to get them to drop what they were doing to enjoy a pleasant afternoon on the lake. When we met up with them at the cabin, we discovered as well as two kids, they had brought two dogs, Chloe, another poodle, and Dixie, the mostly grown bloodhound.

With four dogs and two kids running around while the adults talked on the porch of the log cabin, we could easily have been mistaken for a Clampett family reunion in the hills of Tennessee.

Damon, Zane, and I loaded our gear in the canoe and cast off after assuring Amanda, Trevor, and my wife were safely underway in the bass boat. Damon had one of the oars for the canoe and Zane wanted to use the one I had. I hate to tell the grandsons “no” unless it is absolutely necessary so I let him do my part of the rowing. It is not bad, trolling for bass from the back of a canoe while others do the work. As we made our way to the center of the lake, Coty, the Lab, swam along behind, circling the canoe when we stopped. We encouraged him to go swim around the boat with Trevor and the women. They might enjoy his company more than we did. It is not a good thing to have a large dog swim over one’s fishing line. It is really not good to hook the aforementioned large dog.

Dulce, our poodle, hunted along the shore, attempting to catch frogs and sticking her head into each and every muskrat hole along the shore. Chloe and Dixie seemed to disappear after a couple of laps around the lawn and a quick drink from the lake.

Fishing was going well when we heard a commotion behind the cabin. Labs and poodles do not make much noise when they hunt, but one bloodhound can make up for a whole pack of dogs. Dixie was howling and baying, letting everyone in the area know something important was going on.

Both boats were headed for shore when we saw Chloe come around the corner of the cabin with a raccoon attached to her head. Dixie ran in circles, baying in earnest, as though that would help her friend. Dulce unconcerned looked up from the pond as to say, “Seems like a personal problem,” and went back to chasing frogs. Coty was too busy enjoying a swim to get involved in someone else’s fight. As we docked, Damon jumped out of the canoe and went running up to help Chloe. When Dixie saw her master making great strides across the lawn, she felt it might be safe to join in the fight. Her big mouth clamped down on the raccoon and the fight was done. She saw herself as the hero.

Chloe had protected our property from invading raccoons, or so she thought, and had taken the worst of the fight. Dixie stepped in at the last minute when she knew things were safe and got all the credit. She paraded around showing “her” trophy to anyone who cared to see, garnering accolades from the admiring crowd. Some days, life is just not fair.

On the short ride home, the boys and two dogs fell asleep. Chloe and Dixie were still pumped from the excitement, and it really did not matter who got to claim credit for saving the family from wildlife invaders.