We had 10 chicken houses (broilers) and 350 head of cattle when I was growing up. We had a heeler named Sparky that your story reminds me of. When I was in middle school, Sparky and I could move those 350 cows all around creation with no problem. Now I realize it was all him and very little me.
We had an old neighbor named Mr. Gene who was a WW2 vet and always hung around our place. He was half blind, 3/4 deaf, and 100% grumpy all the time. He ran over Sparky one day in our driveway. Sparky then ran under our house. I had to climb under there and drag him out. He was trying to bite me the whole time due to the pain he was in. Once I got him out, my dad put him down. I remember it like yesterday even though that about 25 years ago. Such was life growing up on a farm.
My son ran over Rolly with my farm truck one day. My daughter and grandson were with him. My son felt the bump as the back wheels went over him. My daughter jumped and out and says. OMG you ran over Dad's dog. Rolly was trying to suck air. They carried him over into the shade, and began his death vigil.
Except he didn't die.
By the time I got home he was up walking and no indications of internal bleeding so just kept an eye on him.
He got pneumonia one winter and the snot was running out of him, but he refused to stay in the house, he would not leave his duties, as he saw them.
Went in the house to the animal medicine part of the fridge and got him one syringe 25cc of LA or long acting penicillin, and one 25 cc shot of SA or short acting. Told one of the boys to hold onto him and gave him both jabs.
He was not happy but would never bite me.
Or the time I caught him licking Loser the goats balls.
One Sunday morning a friend dropped over for coffee, we are sitting at the kitchen table my back to the window and we are talking politics.
My friend keeps laughing and snickering and looking over my shoulder outside.
Finally I says what am I saying that is so damn funny.
He says I like your goat.
The jerk had loaded up this retarded big billy goat he had given to him by somebody, with massive long horns out the sides, and the damned thing by this time had eaten the wife's flowers and a small lilac bush and some roses I had been trying to grow for her.
I was pissed, he quickly made his escape laughing his ass off out the truck window yelling see yah.
The Woman is pissed that I have such an asshole for a friend, I am pissed because all the shit is rolling down hill on me.
And he stinks like a SOB and has goat piss all over his whiskers. So I left the stinky bastard wandering in the farm yard, there was the water bowl, there was grass, all i could do was hope a coyote got him...
The wife was terrified of him.
I came home one day and as I get out of the pick up, I hear this pitiful bleating, well i hate that stinky ass billy goat, but an animal in trouble is an animal in trouble. I walk around back of the shed, and here is "Loser" the billy goat. Yah I named him "Loser", sometimes I called him Obama and such.
Here Loser tangled up in my stacks of barbwire, laying on his back like a beached whale. And horror of horrors, my best buddy Rolly was licking his nuts, and "Loser" didn't like.
I was disgusted. Rolly you dirty disgusting SOB, WTF is wrong with you boy.
You gone queer on me FFS. Rolly slunk off head down, he knew I was pissed at him.
Right then I made a plan. I called a neighbor who lived far enough away, that he did not know about this stinky assed goat. His wife had mentioned to my wife in the local grocery store, that her and her husband Calvin were raising wild boars as an experiment, but she wanted goats.
Well I made a deal one castrated boar for one Billy Goat so his wife could create goat heaven fantasies. Away "Loser went the next day to Calvin's.
And I could have my home grown hog meat.
My son ran into his son at a party, and came home the next day and says, Dad those hogs killed "Loser" and ate him. I had never thought of that when I made the trade. But I guess those folks never thought anything would bother the stinky Billy goat.
Anyway when I picked up my hog meat from the butchers, I thought of old "Loser" when I went to fry my first pan of bacon.
And SOB all I could smell all through the house was piss.
So Rolly ended up eating that whole hog, piece by piece with his meal 2x a day.
Boy I was pissed.
Made me reflect on Karma and the Mysteries and twists and turns of life.
Fuck you loser.