Lap Dog Swims Laps Into Family’s Heart

Norris Lake is known for a lot of things – good fishing, beautiful scenery -- but now the reservoir has a new namesake.

Norris, a full-blooded Boston Terrier, may not walk on water, but he literally swam his way into the hearts of the Hodge family of Powell.

Bob Hodge, an outdoor columnist for the “Knoxville News Sentinel,” described in his May 8 column how Norris came into his life.

“A week ago, a half-dozen or so soon-to-be-graduates from Powell High School were capping off their prom weekend by fishing on Norris Lake. The day-after (prom) fishing wasn't bad - a cooler full of big shellcrackers attested to that,” wrote Hodge. But besides the shellcrackers and a few smallish spotted bass, the big news of the day was a dog that was found swimming in the middle of the lake. “ The 20-pound BT had no tag, but someone had fashioned a belt to use as a collar, and it had a piece of rope attached. Hodge said the dog was at least 200 yards from any shoreline, in the Andersonville area with no boat in sight, and the young men retrieved it out of the water to keep it from drowning. Hodge’s son Hunter was one of the rescuers, and ended up bringing the dog home. Hodge said the boys stayed in the area at least a half hour to see if someone would come looking for the dog, but nobody did so. They also went to the nearest dock inquiring if anyone had reported a lost dog. No one did. Hodge wrote the column, thinking someone might recognize the approximately three year-old dog. Hodge, knowing it was a “long shot,” even called a woman in Fountain City who had advertised a missing BT. He said she was obviously grieving the loss of her dog, which she apparently loved very much, but when the dog they now call “Norris” wouldn’t respond to the woman’s calling him “Bubba, it was obvious this wasn’t her dog. Hodge didn’t want another dog, as he had four at the time he wrote his column. Regardless, Norris is now a permanent fixture in the Hodge household, having used his gentlemanly charms” to steal the hearts of the family members, including the other dogs. Norris likes his name just fine, in fact responds eagerly to calls using it, perhaps remembering how close he came to crossing the “Rainbow Bridge” on that body of water. “He’s appreciative all right,” said Hodge. He now has his own doggie bed, which is kept under Hodge and his wife’s bed. Every morning at 1 a.m. he awakens them by whimpering, and they have to lift him up into bed with them. “He was obviously somebody’s lap (no pun intended) dog,” said Hodge. “He is used to sleeping with someone, riding in a car, and being inside the house.” Hodge said Norris “Likes it here, and acts like he’s spent his entire life in the Hodge household.” “It’s amazing,” he said. And he gets along great with Hodges’s other four rescued dogs, two dachshunds (one Hodge says is seriously insane), one chow and something mix (about 11-12 years old), and a nine year-old hound dog that was rescued from a Melton Hill boat launch being kicked and run off by other boaters because it was nasty and bloated with worms. Norris is particularly fond of the insane dachshund, said Hodge. He adds, “I guess you can say I run a house for wayward dogs.” ARE TERRIERS GOOD SWIMMERS It’s assumed by many all dogs can swim, but the truth is some breeds are built for swimming, while others’ builds and/or health conditions makes it very difficult. A search of the internet turns up differing opinions on how well BTs swim. There are dozens of “YouTube” postings of these dogs swimming. A BT breeders association website says, “Not all dogs love the water, and there are some dogs that should not swim. Dogs with respiratory difficulty, especially laryngeal paralysis, should not swim. There are also some breeds of dogs that aren’t strong swimmers like Basset hounds and dogs with low body fat. Other breeds that can’t swim at all or swim only with great difficulty are bulldogs, dachshunds, pugs, corgis, Scottish and Boston terriers and greyhounds.” Norris apparently didn’t read that report. THE AMERICAN GENTLEMAN

It’s not unusual for BTs to win over hearts, according to the Boston Terrier Club of America. At one time or another renowned people such as Helen Keller, Former President Warren G Harding, Martha Stewart, LeAnn Rimes, and Joan Rivers have owned these dogs that were originally bred as fighting dogs. The BT is also the official state dog of Massachusetts.

The Boston Terrier resulted from selective breeding of the Bulldog and the White English Terrier (now extinct), by a few men in the Boston area during the 1870s. The breed was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1893 as the first genuinely American bred dog.

The dogs have a clean cut square head, large, soft, dark eyes and move with grace and power. They are intelligent, alert and have a loving disposition, making them ideal companions. The dogs’ loving dispositions have earned them the nickname, "The American Gentleman,” according to the Westminster Kennel Club.

According to the BTCA “ They are, and have been, bred to be companions. They will languish without human contact. They are not outside dogs!”

But they are adaptive, as the story of the most famous BT shows. Tenacity is a trait these terriers are known for. An example is a mixed BT named “Sgt. Stubby,” the first dog to be given rank, and highest decorated canine to ever serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Sgt. Stubby served as the mascot of the 102nd Infantry Yankee Division in WWI. A display in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History tells the detailed story of his heroics, which can be found on the internet at americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=15.

Sgt. Stubby learned the bugle calls, the drills, and even a modified dog salute with his right paw on his right eyebrow.

Smuggled into France aboard the SS Minnesota by Private J. Robert Conroy, Sgt. Stubby raised the morale of the troops and won over Conroy’s commanding officer when he saluted him.

Stubby, the official mascot of the Division, fought alongside his division members in the front lines in France.

He was exposed to nerve gas, which left him sensitive to the tiniest trace of the chemical. When the Division was attacked in an early morning gas attack, most of the troops were asleep. Stubby recognized the gas and ran through the trench barking and biting at the soldiers, rousing them to sound the gas alarm.

He’d listen for English speaking men in the trenches, then would lead paramedics to the location of wounded men, saving many lives. When he heard Germans speaking, he’d lead U.S. forces to them.

“He caught a German soldier mapping out the layout of the Allied trenches. The soldier called to Stubby, but he put his ears back and began to bark. As the German ran, Stubby bit him on the legs, causing the soldier to trip and fall. He continued to attack the man until the American soldiers arrived,” according to the Smithsonian.

Sgt. Stubby was later injured during a grenade attack, and by the end of the war had served in 17 battles. The highly decorated dog later visited with presidents Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. Gen. John Pershing presented him with a gold medal for his service to his country.

He was awarded many medals for his heroism, and eventually became the mascot of the Georgetown Hoyas. He would be given the football at halftime and would nudge the ball around the field. He died in 1926, and his mounted body, complete with coat and medals are part of the exhibit “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War” exhibit at the Smithsonian.

Norris may not have served in a war theatre, but he displayed the same tenacity when he swam to safety in Norris Lake. Nobody but Norris knows how he got there, whether he fell off a dock and became disoriented and swam out to open water, or if he fell off of a boat.

“Whatever it was (causing him to be in peril), he is a Hodge now,” said Hodge, adding that this time he means it, “This will be the last dog for awhile.”

UPDATE

Allen Lindsay and his son Logan are reunited with their Boston terrier Rocky for the first time since he was lost on Norris Lake May 1. To get to the ending you have to go back to the beginning and that would be May 1 on Norris Lake. That was the day a group of seniors from Powell High School were wiling away the day after their prom, fishing and boating and just generally doing what teenagers do.

The unexpected surprise was seeing a dog swimming in the middle of the lake that looked like it had little hope of getting back to the shore. The boys picked it up and from that day until this past Tuesday the Boston terrier named Norris had lived at my house.

In the 66 days he was there he adjusted to being renamed 'Norris,' got his own bed, his own collar for the invisible fence, his own dog bowl, made himself at home sleeping on our bed and using his bed as a chew toy, learned to catch a Frisbee, terrorized the male wiener dog whenever the mood hit, learned to stare un-movingly at anyone eating cheese until he got some and generally settled in to a house with two teenagers and four other dogs.

Then Etta Pettajohn called and wanted to know if she could do a follow-up story for the LaFollette Press. Pettajohn, a well-known outdoor writer in East Tennessee, did the story and it was published last Sunday.

It got the attention of Allen Lindsay's mother, who got the attention of Allen Lindsay, who got the attention of Phil Kaplan at the News Sentinel, who sent me an e-mail.

It took about 30 seconds of phone conversation with Lindsay to realize that Norris was about to leave.

Back up to May 1. The boat Lindsay and his family were in and the boat the soon-to-be-Powell High graduates were in were two ships that passed in the day.

While the boys were cruising around looking for more shellcrackers to catch, the Lindsays were going for a boat ride around the lake.

They had been camping on Bear Hole Island and decided to take a short boat ride and leave their Boston terrier Rocky secure on the island.

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to see where this is going.

Rocky obviously didn't like being left on the island and decided to go after the Lindsay's boat. He broke the cord he had been tied up with and decided he could swim the lake.

At some point he was saved and the boys left. When the Lindsay's returned, they wondered what had happened to their dog.

"I must have walked that whole island three times," Lindsay said. "My son Logan is really attached to that dog and when he got home he would holler for Rocky and when we went back to the island he wanted me to keep looking. We were there this weekend (July 4) and he wanted to go looking for Rocky."

But Rocky/Norris was in Powell eating cheese, his bed, harassing the wiener dog and generally taking it easy … and possibly wondering why nobody called him Rocky these days?

Lindsay knew the key piece of evidence that would identify the dog as his: Instead of a collar he had a mesh leather belt around his neck.

"We forgot his collar and his leash so I took off my belt to use as a collar and used some rope as a leash," Lindsay said. "It must have come untied."

Tuesday afternoon the Lindsays drove from their home in Andersonville to Powell and it took less than 30 seconds for any doubt about ownership to be washed away. Rocky/Norris, always a bit standoffish around every one, charged the car, jumped on Logan until he knocked him over and all the while generally treated his rescuers with disdain.

During those 66 days my wife had gotten pretty attached to Norris. Yes it was their dog, but ...

In one of those weird coincidences Tuesday, July 5, was exactly one year to the day since our 13-year-old Lab Cody wondered off and was never seen again.

Multiple checks of the dog pound and lots of walking and driving never turned up any sign of him, but maybe - just maybe - he's living the good life with someone else right now. We'd still like to have him back.

So my wife's question wasn't should the Lindsay's get their dog back? It's how long do we have to wait to get a Boston terrier of our own ... and name him Norris.

Bob Hodge is a freelance contributor.

I know, paragraphs are our friends.

NORRIS LAKE NAMESAKE

Lap Dog Swims Laps Into Family’s Heart

By Etta Pettijohn

Norris Lake is known for a lot of things – good fishing, beautiful scenery — but now the reservoir has a new namesake.

Norris, a full-blooded Boston Terrier, may not walk on water, but he literally swam his way into the hearts of the Hodge family of Powell.

Bob Hodge, an outdoor columnist for the “Knoxville News Sentinel,” described in his May 8 column how Norris came into his life.

“A week ago, a half-dozen or so soon-to-be-graduates from Powell High School were capping off their prom weekend by fishing on Norris Lake. The day-after (prom) fishing wasn’t bad - a cooler full of big shellcrackers attested to that,” wrote Hodge. But besides the shellcrackers and a few smallish spotted bass, the big news of the day was a dog that was found swimming in the middle of the lake. “

The 20-pound BT had no tag, but someone had fashioned a belt to use as a collar, and it had a piece of rope attached. Hodge said the dog was at least 200 yards from any shoreline, in the Andersonville area with no boat in sight, and the young men retrieved it out of the water to keep it from drowning.

Hodge’s son Hunter was one of the rescuers, and ended up bringing the dog home. Hodge said the boys stayed in the area at least a half hour to see if someone would come looking for the dog, but nobody did so. They also went to the nearest dock inquiring if anyone had reported a lost dog. No one did.

Hodge wrote the column, thinking someone might recognize the approximately three year-old dog. Hodge, knowing it was a “long shot,” even called a woman in Fountain City who had advertised a missing BT. He said she was obviously grieving the loss of her dog, which she apparently loved very much, but when the dog they now call “Norris” wouldn’t respond to the woman’s calling him “Bubba, it was obvious this wasn’t her dog.

Hodge didn’t want another dog, as he had four at the time he wrote his column. Regardless, Norris is now a permanent fixture in the Hodge household, having used his gentlemanly charms” to steal the hearts of the family members, including the other dogs. Norris likes his name just fine, in fact responds eagerly to calls using it, perhaps remembering how close he came to crossing the “Rainbow Bridge” on that body of water.

“He’s appreciative all right,” said Hodge. He now has his own doggie bed, which is kept under Hodge and his wife’s bed. Every morning at 1 a.m. he awakens them by whimpering, and they have to lift him up into bed with them.

“He was obviously somebody’s lap (no pun intended) dog,” said Hodge. “He is used to sleeping with someone, riding in a car, and being inside the house.” Hodge said Norris “Likes it here, and acts like he’s spent his entire life in the Hodge household.”

“It’s amazing,” he said. And he gets along great with Hodges’s other four rescued dogs, two dachshunds (one Hodge says is seriously insane), one chow and something mix (about 11-12 years old), and a nine year-old hound dog that was rescued from a Melton Hill boat launch being kicked and run off by other boaters because it was nasty and bloated with worms.

Norris is particularly fond of the insane dachshund, said Hodge. He adds, “I guess you can say I run a house for wayward dogs.”

ARE TERRIERS GOOD SWIMMERS

It’s assumed by many all dogs can swim, but the truth is some breeds are built for swimming, while others’ builds and/or health conditions makes it very difficult.

A search of the internet turns up differing opinions on how well BTs swim. There are dozens of “YouTube” postings of these dogs swimming. A BT breeders association website says, “Not all dogs love the water, and there are some dogs that should not swim. Dogs with respiratory difficulty, especially laryngeal paralysis, should not swim. There are also some breeds of dogs that aren’t strong swimmers like Basset hounds and dogs with low body fat. Other breeds that can’t swim at all or swim only with great difficulty are bulldogs, dachshunds, pugs, corgis, Scottish and Boston terriers and greyhounds.”

Norris apparently didn’t read that report.

THE AMERICAN GENTLEMAN

The BT is also the official state dog of Massachusetts.

The dogs have a clean cut square head, large, soft, dark eyes and move with grace and power. They are intelligent, alert and have a loving disposition, making them ideal companions. The dogs’ loving dispositions have earned them the nickname, “The American Gentleman,” according to the Westminster Kennel Club.