First order of business is to advertise Daisy’s favorite Charity, the West Point Clay County Animal Shelter (WPCCAS) on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WPCCAS and online at https://www.wpccas.org. As a non profit animal shelter they are reliant on donations and Daisy was happy to donate after they helped her, the story why towards the end of this piece. Daisy was rescued by a no kill shelter in the southeast and sent north for adoption by a facility like WPCCAS and they deserve our support.
Like many stories we need to go into the future, our present, to understand the past. It was on my first visit to MS that my sister in law saw Daisy and said, “Oh, you’ve got a Feist Dog, too.” She advised just a generation back most southern gentlemen would keep a Feist Dog as companions and for squirrel hunting (attic Rats as they are called in MS due to their abundance and habit of nesting in attics). More on Feist Dogs here, https://www.thesprucepets.com/feist-dog-breed-profile-8692992. Feist are small (15-30 pounds) highly intelligent and energetic dogs of varying colors in the terrier family bred in the Southeast to hunt squirrels and catch vermin. They relate well to people but become all business when they see prey. Daisy sure fit that description.
I had started raising free range turkeys and we had chickens at the “Hays Waggin’ Tails” Farm in Buskirk, NY and I decided I needed a farm dog to protect the flock. I had found a 1/2 Australian Shepard-1/2 Australian Cattle Dog at a rescue and went to adopt it. As it turned out the rescue was run by a pet Nazi who asked if I had a fence around the farm and was unsure if the dog would be safe without. She was taken aback when I told her it was going to be a working farm dog. Then learning we had a mini schnauzer with health issues she demanded a note from the vet to adopt. My suggestion was to place the “effin” animal in a certain body orifice with a few other expletives on what she could do with herself as we departed.
Off to Adirondack Save a Stray, a place I was familiar with in my old patrol sector before being promoted. As I recall there was about 15 puppies running excitedly in a pen but one came to front and stood on her back legs, front paws on the wall and just looked at me. I picked her up and announced that “I got my dog” as I think you should never deny a dog who adopts you. My future Ex wife (fEw) had a different puppy and asked what about that one and I told her that I had mine but she could get that one for her if she wanted but she declined. On the way home I told the fEw to pick out a name and she went with Daisy. Not exactly the tough farm dog name I would have picked but an elongated farm name was sure to be found in the future.
Daisy joined our two other dogs, Ziggy a miniature Schnauzer and Fluff, a mix breed rescue dog. Fluff was kept in a crate before we got her and rarely let out, at first shy and refusing to come out but eventually we got to where she was normal, giving her her own chair instead of being locked in. After introductions and a lot of sniffing Fluff retreated to her safe chair and Daisy bounded right up next to her. Fluff’s growling produced zero response from Daisy who realized her bark was worse than her bite and she settled in next to her.
I set Daisy up in the dining room, intending her bed to stay there but on her first night the fEw gave in to the whining and against my wishes brought the dog into bed. A dog allowed to do something once is a dog who will do that forever. Daisy decided the best spot on the bed was between or behind my legs and so my “farm dog” became “Ms. cuddle with the big guy,” said annoyance now missed greatly. That done, her protection of the barn animals was not diminished due to her hyper drive and any farm animal noise out of the norm would get her to barking no matter where she was in the house, barking a rare event only used to get my attention when necessary (a Feist Dog trait). So rare that I could tell the difference in what she was chasing by her bark. To go out she would stand at the door and just look at me.
Daisy was adopted onto a 10 Acre farm with Cookie and her kid Candy. We added Flicka, an old Arabian Horse belonging to a neighbor who had pancreatic cancer and he had to sell and move due to financial troubles related to the cancer. Barred Rock Chicks soon followed and after that Bourbon Red turkey poults, the beginning of a self breeding turkey side business. Daisy had the benefit of twice daily walks with the fEw and the two house dogs delineating the “pack boundaries” and which she (mostly) adhered to when older and allowed out on her own. Mornings started at 5am when I let Daisy out, put on coffee, then went to check on the animals. Breakfast and off to work she was on the morning walk with the house dogs, hanging in the day with them, an evening walk and after I returned from a 10 hour day at work more time outside at the barn with the animals.
Daisy’s first confirmed kill was a wood chuck she trapped in a blow down. I got the single shot .410 hoping to not make her gun shy and taught her to “break” off next to me and “hold” back as I fired off a shot. Expecting her to run or at a minimum be confused by the noise she did the opposite and attacked the animal. My fEw was a little put off when I tossed the carcass for her to fetch and did a little tug of war with it teaching Daisy to go after critters looking to steal eggs, poults, chicks, or birds.
The barn had a cement floor which meant rats and mice built tunnels under it to come out after dark to eat and drink as the birds were on the roost. Daisy would go to the main egress 1/2 an hour before sunset regardless of weather, 40 degrees and pouring rain did not deter her and she would stand as if frozen waiting for one to exit the lair and meet their demise. I tried throwing the smoke bomb down that was to kill them and a day later they pushed it out of the hole as if giving me the middle finger. So I made a hose for the truck exhaust and went to the back of the barn and put it in a hole, went around and closed the rest except the main in front and armed with a pump BB gun (and safety glasses) waited with Daisy intent as the critters stacked up at the egress knowing the first was Daisy fodder.
Safety in numbers they would fly out and Daisy set upon them and to escape they would climb the 2×4’s in the chicken coop and I would try to hit them to drop them to the ground and Daisy would finish them. “Rodent Day” was so much fun for both of us that it became a bi-monthly event. The record kill was 18, the trophy photo lost to the electronic mother ship so you’ll have to take my word for it. I only needed to pick up a BB gun, shotgun, or pistol and she went nuts as she knew the chase was on. From pigeons in the pole barn to any other critter, the gun brought great anticipation of Feist Dog fun.
Daisy’s nickname “Doodle Bug” came from the fact that she would go into the hay field, unseen in the tall grass but would leap to eat the bugs she stirred up, landing she stirred more up and leaped again and again and so she would bounce and bound across the field, appearing in the air and disappearing in the tall grass, hopping like a kangaroo. Someone asked what she was doing to which I replied “doodle bugging” and the name stuck. From then on she was “Daisy Doodle Bug,” “Bug” to me and if I used Daisy, like a parent using a child’s full name, she knew she had done something wrong and would tuck tail.
A fox was raiding the chicken coops in the neighborhood and I got the .410 and my cup of coffee and headed to the barn early AM to ambush it when the sun came up. Five feet in front of me a chicken shot past followed by said fox. The coffee cup flew as I fumbled and loaded the gun but Daisy was on it and the chase was on and before I got off a shot. She had run it past the hedgerow disappearing for 10 minutes. A coyote killed a turkey in a neighbors field and when we went to investigate she saw the critter and the chase was on again. I’m snot sure how far they went but it was 30 minutes before she returned home, none the worse for wear to my great relief. She would come to me from a mile off when called but once she was chasing varmint fur she was single focused and unstoppable.
Daisy, at just under 30 pounds, got a 35 pound wood chuck near the house. She would charge and he retreat and he would charge back and she retreat and by this back and forth they moved across the hay field 5’ to 10’ at a time. Responding from the barn, at the neighbors property line I caught up and armed with my pocket pistol got Daisy to Break and Hold and put one into him. She took it as the bell to attack and hit the back of his neck, he so large as she tried to shake her body went back and forth and not his. Another “kill” for Daisy. Her confirmed kills were 4 wood chucks, 3 possums, too many rodents and squirrels to counts, and 3 skunks which made us experts at bathing with dish soap and hydrogen peroxide at the hose.
Daisy was so fast if she was under 100% of the squirrels 50% distance to safety she would catch it. The squirrels would get into the cedar log house “attic” so if any were near I would try to shoot or trap them. One was in the crab apple tree near the house and I used the game warden trick of beating the trunk with a wood handle to make the thing think it was being cut down and the squirrel went to the tippy top and launched from there. Daisy ran like Willie Mays and did a center fielder over the shoulder catch 30 feet out before it hit the ground, one chomp, tossed it in the air and it was done.
The fEw made herself the current Ex wife and so we moved into my buddies rental on the Rensselaer Plateau, dog heaven as it was 25 acres of hemlock forest full of squirrels. Unfortunately Daisy had separation anxiety from the divorce. She busted an outside cable run, chewed through the harness, scratched the paint on the truck looking for me and chewed the door knobs flat. I ended up putting her into a crate which she flipped and rolled and I ended up with plywood and tie downs on a foot locker to keep it upright. The vet prescribed drugs which worked and in a month she was OK to be in the house alone. That aside she settled in nicely with my homies and their dogs and when my good buddy lost his dog and got “lil scotty” Daisy took to training him in the fine art of tug of war, paying attention, and not wandering off. It was here that Daisy was introduced to porcupines and their tail slap, the first time with 4 quills removed by me but the second a 15 quill slap and a trip to the emergency vet to get them out.
I decided to buy a “retirement house” and ended up in Montgomery County at 1175 feet above sea level overlooking the Schoharie Valley, a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath fix me upper Colonial on 48 acres. The “Sunsets over the Schoharie Valley” Video explains why I bought it. Unfortunately my fix it up plans fell to the wayside when I had multiple surgeries (5 in 2 years) for orthopedic problems and retired on a disability. Daisy shared my pain and helped nurse me back to health. In 2018 I visited my brother in Maben and decided I liked Northeast MS and would sell my NY holdings and move here.
I didn’t want a fix me upper but listened to my brother “we can fix this up nice” and bought a fix me upper as the most important considerations for real estate are, 1. location, 2. location, and 3. location and I liked it when I pulled in the driveway. Me and Daisy settled into our last retirement house. But this began the multi year back and forth several times, the move was further interrupted by the China (NIH) Virus; my “last” NY surgery March 2020 postponed for 6 months as NY shut down and the sale of my NY house with it delayed also to the following August before I closed on it. Daisy, as dogs do (especially old ones) took it all in stride.
By 2023 Daisy and my brother both showed signs of dementia requiring daily care which fell to me. Daisy wandered off twice but was found an hour later near the road. I added 2 outside cameras to the alarm system so I could watch her and didn’t allow more than 5 minutes alone outside but unfortunately she evaded all them and wandered off. On Good Friday I let her out and put the bacon in the pan and not 5 minutes later went to find her and she was gone. I feared the worst as coyotes are on the opposite side of the pond and scoured the neighborhood to no avail. Up went flyers and I went to WPCCAS to see if she had been picked up. They put it on facebook and on Easter Sunday a neighbor called as Daisy was lying in their field. She was a mile from the house and her legs had given out, my neighbor riding out with his ATV to help get her to the truck and back home. It was “breakfast in bed” and a lot of her favorite, thin sliced ham, some bacon, and steak and within 3 days she was up and moving normal again. Without WPCCAS she probably would have died, unable to find her way home.
I upped it to 4 cameras so she could go out after her breakfast and wander in the morning as was her habit. She stayed in the yard and would run around the house several times but diminished eyesight, hearing, and dementia was evident and she would mostly sleep all day, go out in the evening and then right to bed for the night. She began falling with failing leg strength and I covered the house in throw rugs to help her out for if she fell I had to help her up. By December it was obvious that she wouldn’t make the new year and she let me know it was time when she lied down to sleep next to her half eaten breakfast. And on December 20 she had a little breakfast, sat in the sun for 5 minutes and then we took the final ride.
It was a life well lived, we had some lively times and adventures, and I’m sure she is waiting patiently for me to come home to the house of my ancestors.
Daisy “Doodle Bug” 10-03-2008 to 12-20-2024 as she is remembered