Last time I told you about our family dog who was an English collie named Blackey. Today I wanted to tell you a little bit more about Blackey who sometimes seemed smarter than some people I know.
When I was six years old I got a little blue girls bicycle for Christmas. I was in the first grade and when my parents thought I could ride it well enough, they let me start riding it to school. The school was only three or four blocks away from our house and it sure beat having to walk. There was always someone directing traffic (including bicycles) at the traffic light there at the school house and back in those days everyone walked or rode bikes to school. I can’t remember anyone I knew who arrived at school in their parents car. I know young people today will find it hard to believe but most families only had one vehicle to drive – back in the day.
I thought I was really something special that first day I rode my bike to school and left it in the bike rack there in front of the school. When I got to my classroom, I told all of my friends about my new bike and about the basket it had which held my books and the horn on the front that went “Honk, Honk” when I squeezed it.
I didn’t have any problems at all riding back and forth to school until one morning about a month later. That particular morning I was peddling along all by myself, when out of nowhere two big bull dogs came running across the yard toward me. They were barking every breath and then when they got closer they started snapping at my feet and legs. When I looked over at them we were practically eyeball-to-eyeball as I rode along on my little blue bicycle. I put on a burst of speed just as fast as my little legs could peddle and finally got past them without losing a limb.
By the time I got to school I was shaking like a leaf and sweating bullets. Then I thought to myself – Oh no. I’m gonna have to ride right by them again this afternoon.
When I actually did go by that afternoon; however, it wasn’t as bad as in the morning because they came out and barked but they wouldn’t cross the highway to chase me. What a relief!!
That night when my family sat down to eat supper, one of my brothers told Daddy about two bull dogs that chased him and his friend as they rode by on their way to school. Daddy asked me if they had chased me as I rode to school and of course I had to admit that they had. I had been afraid to tell him because I thought he wouldn’t let me ride my bike to school anymore. Instead he told my two older brothers that they needed to ride to school with me the next morning instead of riding with their friends. They usually left early for school so they could shoot marbles outside before the bell rang. They told him they would wait and ride with “Sis” from now on.
The next morning when we started by the house where the bull dogs lived, they chased after all three of us – barking and snapping at us. It didn’t matter to them if there was one of us or three, we were on their territory and they let us know they didn’t want us around. They were definitely not afraid of the three kids from down the street.
Of course that evening when we got home, we told Mama about the dogs chasing all of us as we rode by. She said she and Daddy would talk about it before we rode to school again. The next morning as we got on our bikes to ride to school, Mama came outside with us. She looked right at Blackey and said “Blackey, I want you to go with Richard, Mike and Azalea to school today.” Then she looked at us and said: “When you get to the stop light at school, be sure and tell Blackey to come back home.”
It may sound crazy, but that dog looked at her just like he knew what she was saying. When we took off on our bikes, he trotted right along beside of us. When we got down the street to the bull dogs house, one of the dogs came running out towards us just like usual. Whenever that dog got close to our bikes Blackey cut him off with a few snaps to his legs. That dog ran off like a streak towards his house as the other one came around the house from the back yard and headed straight towards Blackey. Bull Dog #2 seemed to know a little bit more about fighting because he tried to get Blackey by the neck and take him down. Thank goodness, about all he got was a mouthful of that long black dog hair that Blackey had growing around his neck. As we stopped to watch, Blackey grabbed #2 by the neck and that dog didn’t have long hair to protect him. He started yelping and when Blackey let him go he took off with his tail tucked between his legs as Blackey chased him and #1 around towards their back yard. We called Blackey and he came running back over to us and we headed off again towards the school. Of course we talked all the way to school about how Blackey had beat up on both of those two other dogs. When we reached the stoplight, Richard said: “Blackey, go home” and he turned and trotted off down the sidewalk towards home.
Mama said Blackey came home and laid down on the front porch. That afternoon, a few minutes before it was time for school to let out, Mama went outside and told Blackey to go to the school and meet Richard, Mike and Azalea. She said he took off down the street towards the school. When we got our bikes to start home, he was sitting there at the stoplight waiting for us.
The next morning when we got down the street, the bull dogs came running out to chase us. However, when they saw that Blackey was with us again they turned around and went behind their house.
After that, Blackey went to school with us every day. When school let out, he was always sitting right there at the traffic light waiting on us. Mama said the first few days she went outside to tell him when it was time to go meet us at school. Then one day as she went out to tell him, she saw him trotting down the street towards the school. She never had to tell him again when it was time to head to the school. Somehow he seemed to know. Can dogs tell time? I surely do not know. All I know is that Blackey never failed to be there at school and he never failed to be on time. He’d be sitting right there at that traffic light as regular as clockwork.
Like I said before about that English collie – kinda dumb and kinda smart but always loyal and protective of three kids who loved him dearly!!!
Azalea Bolton is author of “Just Passing Time Together,” and author of “Days of Yore” all of which can be purchased on Amazon or bought locally.