Dairyland Days: Cow dog had mission to protect house, kids

Editor’s Note: This is the second part in a series.

Yogi the dog had a fondness for the kids. He loved to be involved in their outside activities. When the kids played football or soccer, he ran with them as if he were a member of the team. If an adult was involved in the game, he was always on the side of the kids.

My brother was not too fond of Yogi.

There were times that Uncle Larry was a little too rough with the kids for Yogi’s liking. More than once, when Larry held onto Gary in a pseudo tackle, Yogi would rush in to even the score for the size disadvantage. After all, it did not look right to Yogi for a grown man to wrestle a 10-year-old boy to the ground. He would bite onto Larry’s heel until he released his captive. Most of the time, he bit into Larry’s shoe, but occasionally he got a little skin.

There was a lot of traffic in and out of the dairy. There were feed sales and delivery people, dairy supply and chemical sales people coming and going. Our house was located on the west side of the barn. The barn office was on the east side. Most deliveries were made on the east side. Occasionally, a sales or delivery person would come to the house.

Yogi did not like that. He had a rule. Stay on the east side of the barn and that was OK. Come on the house side of the barn and you are in his territory. He made a lot of noise and gave fair warning. Some people did not heed his warning and proceeded without talking to him and getting his permission to enter the yard. A confrontation then ensued that often led to the intruder backtracking to the barn and making a phone call to the house.

There are a couple confrontations that deserve mention.

My Uncle Lloyd Danieli and Bill Teeter came to the backdoor one day. They were working on a chopper and had on greasy coveralls.

They knew of Yogi’s reputation and brought along a couple sticks to protect themselves from the dog’s aggression. Yogi was no fool. He only barked and stayed away from the sticks. When they got to the door and on the porch, the dog sort of had them trapped and would not retreat. Luckily, we answered the door and called off the angry dog. He laid down and obeyed, but watched, quietly growling, glaring and studying the men as the went to their pickup.

From that day on, Yogi could make a distinction. If a person wore manure-covered coveralls, they were OK. If a person wore grease covered coveralls, they were the enemy. Five years after Yogi’s death, I answered the doorbell. Standing on my front porch was Dan Branco, with a shovel in his hand. “Just a little protection in case that dog comes around the corner,” he said.

Yogi knew Ralph Piedrafita because he came by quite often.

Ralph loved kids and the kids liked to talk to him. He had a knack for knowing the name of every kid in Dairyland and I am sure that the kids appreciated the fact the he called them by name.

He came into the yard one day and greeted the kids with his larger than life booming voice. He said to Dawna as only Ralph could do, “HOW YA DOOIN DAW-NA!”

Then he held his arms out wide as Dawna ran to greet him. Yogi saw something that he did not like. He cut between them and jumped up meeting Ralph face to face, planting all four paws on his chest. He did not growl or offer to bite. It startled Ralph. It was just a push back as if Yogi was trying to say, “These are my kids and you are in my yard!”

This story was originally published October 14, 2014 at 1:07 PM with the headline "Dairyland Days: Cow dog had mission to protect house, kids."