Life with Edgar and other adventures

Wednesday September 22, 2010

Living with Edgar and other adventures…

When Edgar was a baby I read online somewhere that I should get him a stuffed goose to keep him company. I presented it to him thinking he would cuddle up to it at night, he hated it. He attacked it then refused to go near it in the fish tank I put him in. (to limit human contact)



Edgar sleeping with his pet



When we moved out to the farm I came across the “pet goose” and tossed it out to Lucky the dog thinking he might like to play with it. Nope, Lucky didn’t want it either. And so the goose sat in the driveway for a couple of weeks alone. One day I went outside and caught Edgar carrying his “pet goose” to a nice spot where he preened it a bit then slept with it. I instantly felt a pang of sadness. Was he that lonely for his own kind? Were we not enough? The second I realized what I was thinking I tried my best to stamp on those emotions… wild animal, wild animal… say it over and over and maybe one day your heart will believe it.

 

We knew Lucky had a reputation with the birds. My husband being British had a reputation with the birds too… but that is a totally different story! Lucky had endured a long life of loneliness. He had been chained to a car away from the house where his people lived. He was forced to live without the one thing that dogs crave the most… people. He’s an old dog and he’s part retriever and something else. He is so desperate for attention that he will gladly suffer you washing and brushing him as long as you pet him. His life is different now. He does still get chained up outside, but now he gets to come inside the house many evenings.



Where was I??? Oh yes, Lucky loves birds. He once got loose and went to a neighbor’s house that raised fighting cocks and killed a couple. This is before we came into his life. My uncle paid for the roosters and eventually the person got caught fighting them and thank goodness no longer has them.

We weren’t sure how Lucky would take to Edgar but in the early days of life on the farm we let Lucky have a bit of freedom. Bad, bad idea. Give a boy an inch and he will take 35 acres. One day I was cooking and I heard Edgar let out a distress honk. I ran to the back of the house and Lucky had Edgar pinned down from behind. He could have killed him but instead he was licking Edgar’s back and pulling out a few feathers. He didn’t even break Edgar’s skin. Was he just trying to play with Edgar?

After that Edgar was wary around Lucky.



Lucky n Edgar having a nap



They settled into a relationship of sorts. I think Edgar grew to realize that Lucky didn’t really want to eat him and because of his size he offered some protection from the critters that roam at night.



Once Edgar was full grown we stopped putting him in a pen for the night. He was in theory big enough to stand on his own two webbed feet. Nearly every night you could find him laying about a foot away from Lucky.

At first Lucky would get up and chase him off if he saw us coming. He has a long history of this. My uncle told me this story about him:

Lucky used to be tied up close to the apple tree in the front yard. Deer love apples and would come eat at the “apple buffet” every year. One night they were driving home and were coming down the driveway and they stopped to watch all the deer eating around the tree when they realized Lucky was lying down in the grass just a few feet away. As they drove closer to the house Lucky suddenly jumped up and started chasing the deer away.

This is how Lucky got a reputation as being a “live and let live” kind of dog. I think he genuinely doesn’t care if animals get very close to him as long as they are no threat. It’s only when he realizes that we are watching him that he feels obligated to chase them away. Almost as if he has to look like he’s earning his keep… for appearances sake.

Monday September 13^th Edgar disappeared while I was at the store shopping. Paul had left to go on the road working on Saturday so neither of us go to say good bye. I knew in my head that if we had done a good job he would one day fly away. You can not tell this to my heart however. I have cried and cried as if I had lost a friend. Maybe I have.

Since it was during the day I don’t think anything bad happened to him. There is no telltale pile of feathers or a carcass anywhere I can find. We have a lot of black buzzards around and you know if a mouse has died by the way they circle around it.

It is certainly not how I had imagined saying goodbye. I thought we would have a tearful "let him be free" type of thing that we would video tape. I only just now realize I have no photos of him with me at all. All of our photos I took of Paul interacting with Edgar. At least I have a ton of photos of my handsome boys.