Emmit the Coon Dog

There is something sacred to old moonlight hunters, and that is their dogs. They are upheld as idolic critters of the night, their eerie baying at unseen spirits of the dark, and noses that can sniff out a coon in the next county. At one time, we had thirteen of them, each named, each special, each with an inborn sense of finding that coon and treeing him. Benny loved to go out with the boys, they roamed the hillsides, the thickets, and valleys all over this county. Oh, the funny stories they would tell, each one boasting on his dog, but our friend Ray takes the cake. His old dog Emmit was one of the best around, and dearly envied by all of the coon hunters. Even old Sammy, with all of his trophies, did not compare to the skill old Emmit had in his nose. We ran into Ray and Ava at the cafe yesterday, and of course the stories began..and this one is surely one of the best….Ray, the dogs, and the rest of the guys went out hunting south of town, in the thick thickets, you can’t even squeeze through them, and they spent hours treeing the coons and taking care of the over-population of the night critters. They called the dogs in and all of them returned to the dog boxes except Old Emmit. Ray called and called, and became more distraught as the hours wore on, searched the tank to see if he was there, no Emmit, searched the surrounds, no Emmit, and finally, in the wee hours of the morning, and with a heavy heart, he made the distressing call to Ava…."Hon, we lost Emmit, can’t find him no where, I am going to stay out here till light, I gotta’ find him" Ava replied, "Well, you didn’t loose him, he’s right here with me, he came home about 10:30 PM"….and now the rest of the story…..Old Emmit had indeed taken off from the pack, and he ended up at some lady’s house. She found his name and phone number on his tags, and called Ava. She offered to bring the dog to her if Ava would meet her half-way, as she did not know how to find her house and it was dark. Ava drove down to the main highway and waited for the lady to bring Old Emmit home. The lady turned the dog over to her and told the funny story of bringing Emmit back home. She stated that Emmit knew every turn of the road, and if she made the wrong turn, he would start barking at her, she would retrace her route and continue on, and he would wag his tail. Ray now has a big brag……"My dog not only knows how to hitch-hike, he knows how to tell them to get to my house !"