Posted on 08/28/2015 1:26:13 PM PDT by blueunicorn6
I have seen some nice statues. I have seen the Abraham Lincoln statue in Washington, D.C. I have seen the "Follow Me!" statue at Fort Benning, Georgia. My favorite statue of all is much smaller than these two statues. My favorite statue is "Old Shep" at Fort Benton, Montana.
It is a bronze statue of a dog. Old Shep wasn't a champion show dog. I guess you could call him a "Heinz 57" breed. He was a bigger dog as was common for a shepherd's dog on the high-plains desert of Montana in the 1930s. His job was helping his shepherd, and sometimes that meant mixing it up with coyotes. And coyotes are dirty fighters. It would be smart to have a dog that was big enough to take on them rascals. My guess is that Old Shep could whip more than his weight in coyotes.
It was not an easy job taking care of sheep on the plains of Montana in the 1930s. Besides coyotes, you faced a climate that was deadly. Flash floods and lightning and the wind. The constant wind.
But man had dog, and dog had man. They were a team. A team against everything that nature could throw at them and the sheep they watched over.
But, one day, the man side of the team got sick. The shepherd became ill and went to town for medical aid.
He died there a few days later.
No one was sure when the dog-half of the team came to Fort Benton. They noticed Old Shep pacing back-and-forth by the train when they loaded the casket containing the shepherd onto the train. The body of the shepherd was going back East to be received by his kin.
Old Shep watched his partner leave.
And he waited there for years for him to come back.
Now, he didn't wait there because the shepherd had given him an easy life. Old Shep had few comforts on the great, wide prairie. It was work, and damn hard work. No days off and the grub wasn't what you would call "fancy".
But Old Shep had what he needed, and what he needed was somebody who needed him.
That's why he greeted the four trains that stopped daily at Fort Benton. He was loyal to the man. He was loyal to HIS man. Some tried to adopt him. Old Shep was famous, you know. But Old Shep was loyal to his man. He waited under the train station. If you see the movie clips of him, you'll see that like all of us, he looked worn-out as he got old.
I'll leave it to you to go to Fort Benton and read more about Old Shep. I can't believe that they had that Richard Gere movie about a Japanese dog when we have Old Shep right here in our country. I guess Richard Gere wouldn't look as good dressed up like a sheep herder.
Old Shep is my favorite statue. During the hard times of the 1930s, a dog captured the hearts of our nation and taught us a valuable lesson in loyalty.
Good picture of him!
Lovely statue! Wonderful story.
I have never heard this story before. It makes me teary eyed!
I have two dogs both rescues. I don’t have a wife or kids but from my two dogs I have unconditional love. I feel both animals would be devastated if I were to die and I would be devastated if they died to.
They sure get in our hearts.
Damn screen got blurry.
I’m getting older now; my biggest terror is going before my boys and girls, they just wont understand why daddy wont come home.
Welcome to the Club.
Now go on down to the pound and get another GOOD BOY or Good GIRL.
Don’t be stupid and wait 5 years like I did.
I wasted 5 years of my life before I found JACK.
Yep. Me too.
Our dog also knows of the passing of a person within our circle of friends and family. She also knows if a person has a terminal illness like cancer, ALS, or liver disease. We had a neighbor who's husband was in the hospital recovering from heart surgery. Our dog climbed the fence in the yard and went to the neighbor's house next door and howled and scratched at the door to get the wife's attention. She offered the dog some table scraps which she refused and just whimpered.
Ten minutes later the phone rang and the husband had just died. The dog knew it.
Yes Tasha was a big poochie.
I lost a chihuahua suddenly in June. He got up with me one morning, laid down beside me on the couch and passed on. I am still hurting over that one. He wasn’t old, ill, still had many years to enjoy. I kept telling him that I wasn’t done with him yet, he couldn’t die. Lost many furbabies over the years, but this one still hurts.
Never wanted a chihuahua, but daughter rescued him. He was the biggest personality.
I will never buy a dog. if I get a dog it will be a rescue. when you get a dog that has lived on the street or has been abused when they finally get to trust you they are totally loyal. both my dogs are ones that in my mind I would not of sought out to own. they ended up mine because they needed a home.....one was abandoned at the dog park when he was a about 10 moths old. the other was given to me by my room mates best friends wife. the dog had been abandoned where she works and she rescued it but all ready had five dogs and had to find a home for the dog.
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