My first ride

by Matt

When I was growing up we constantly had dogs coming
and going. Mom and dad were always taking in dogs and
giving them away, trying to find them good homes, or
just keeping them there. We had a rainbow of dogs from
golden retrievers to Saint Bernards to Great Danes to
labs and Newfies and even a husky. You name it we
probably had it. We had about ten acres of land that
was adjoined to 400 acres owned by family (200 grandma
and grandpas hay farm and 200 aunt and uncle's dairy
farm.) So the doggies all had plenty of room to roam
(and I had plenty to explore, lol).

I first got the idea to try to ride one of my dogs
when I saw some people ride by our place on horses one
day. I was about three years old at the time. And well
since we didn't have horses I figured dogs were the
next logical choice since I was smaller than the
people that rode by and since the dogs were around the
same size compared to me that the horses were compared
to them.
 

So one day me and Butch, one of our newfies, were
outside playing. I was throwing a stick and he was
running after it, and we were playing "get the
rabbits!" (there were tons and tons of rabbits all
over the place, and if someone even mentioned the word
"rabbit" he took off and was going after them even if
he didn't see them. It was too funny.

Mom was sitting on the porch watching us play and then
she was like "Matthew I'm going inside to start
dinner, don't go far." So I was like "Okay mom."
 

Well when mom went in the house I remembered the
people that rode by and I was like "Butch, come." He
was really well trained and responded well to vocal
commands, even from a three year old. So he came up to
me and was panting and wagging his tail and I said
"Butch, down" so he laid down. Then I hiked my leg
over his back and sat down on him for a minute. Then
after I got into a comfortable position, I grabbed onto
his collar and held on tight. Then I leaned down real
close to him and whispered "Butch..... GO GET THE
RABBITS!" The instant those words left my mouth he was
off like a shot. I held on for dear life and started
laughing really loud. Then mom came out and saw what I
was doing.
I thought I would get in trouble but she just kinda
laughed and said "Just make sure you don't let your
father catch you doing that."

I rode Butch for about ten minutes or so then got off
of him when he got tired. We both had a lot of fun but
I didn't want to overdo it, even though I knew he
woulda kept going.
 

After Butch got tired I went and found Tiny, one of
our great danes. Don't let his name fool you he was
tall as a skyscraper, at least to me anyway. I got him
to go over to the porch with me and held onto his
collar to get him to stand next to the steps. He stood
there wagging his tail and looked at me curiously like
what was I doing. Then I put my leg over and kinda had
to hop to make it all the way up on his back. It was a
lot harder to keep my balance on him than it was on
Butch because his back wasn't as wide. He was so far
off the ground I felt like I was riding a horse. I
really didn't wanna fall off of him. As soon as I
mounted him he started walking off. I kinda tugged on
his collar and leaned back a little and told him whoa
but he wouldn't listen. He just kept walking around.
He went pretty much where he wanted to and didn't
listen to me much. That was okay though. He kinda
walked around the yard and investigated things. Then
he saw a rabbit.
 

Tiny liked to chase rabbits, too.

Tiny was a lot faster than Butch.

I didn't see the rabbit until it was too late. Tiny
took off like a rocket, leaving me holding onto his
collar for dear life! When he caught up to the rabbit
it had just went down a hole so he stopped all of a
sudden and I went flying. It didn't hurt when I hit
the ground, I just thought the whole thing was funny.

After that I went inside and had dinner, and when I
went to bed that night I remember thinkin to myself
I'll never be bored again..lol.
 

Monster dog a.k.a. Bear

by Matt

We had this newfie/lab/something else mix named Bear.
I always called him "monster dog" cause he was so big
my mom probably coulda rode him without any trouble,
lol. He was just a big baby and was constantly wanting
to be loved on. He had the same disposition as most of
our dogs - friendly, wouldn't hurt a flea, always
wanting attention and wanting to play.
 

It had been about a week or so since my first ride,
and I had been riding Butch and Tiny every day since
then. Monster dog always kind of intimidated me a
little because he was so big, even though I knew the
most I had to fear from him was a licking attack, lol.
I thought about riding him all that week but didn't
get the chance to until that Sunday. I had just turned
four a couple days earlier so I figured it was time to
give monster dog a try.

That Sunday I woke up earlier than usual and mom was
just making breakfast. She had let the dogs out
earlier too. I told her I was going outside to play
with monster dog and she said okay but breakfast will
be ready soon.
 

I ran outside to monster dog and right away was
greeted with a friendly wag of the tail and a
merciless lick attack, lol. When he finally let me up
I patted him on his massive head and he followed me
over to the porch. I took him by the collar and
positioned him next to the steps kinda like I did with
Tiny, except I didn't have to hold on to monster dog
because he stood still (he wasn't quite as hyper as
Tiny). I had to climb an extra step in order to be
able to reach him. I told him to stay, and he stayed
there. Then I swung a leg over and hopped on his back,
I overshot it a little and almost fell, but regained
my balance at the last second.
 

It was unreal how different he felt. He easily filled
the space in between my legs. I didn't have to squeeze
my legs to stay on him like I kinda did with Tiny and
Butch. I knew he would be wider but I didn't think
that much wider. It was no trouble at all staying on
him. I got excited because then I thought well I can
ride him at a lot faster speeds and still keep my
balance.

So I proceeded to find Monster dog's favorite
tennis ball. I threw it as hard as I could and held on
to his collar, and he took off with a burst of speed
unlike anything I had experienced yet. He could easily
outrun Tiny or Butch. He was much more powerful than
those two.
 

Sadly, mom called me in for breakfast shortly
thereafter so I had to cut our little ride short.

After breakfast I came back outside and decided to go
exploring on monster dog. I told mom I was going to go
to grandpa and grandma's house and she said to be
careful and call her when I got there. I had a whole
two hundred acres I had to cross to get to Grandma and
Grandpa's house. I couldn't really control monster
dog's direction very well yet, but after riding him
for about ten more minutes I finally developed a
system. If I wanted him to go left I would push with
my right leg and vice versa. So then we started off.
 

We started at a walk, but as soon as we were out of
sight of the house I gave him a little tap with my
feet like people who ride horses do and he picked up
the pace. That didn't bother him at all, he was still
wagging his tail and panting. I told him good boy and
we rode at that pace for a while. Then I thought I'd
try something. I leaned down and told him "run boy,
run!" I didn't think he would, but sure enough he took
off like a streak of lightning, even faster than he
had that morning. I couldn't help myself, I was having
a blast, and when he took off like that I hollered
"yeeeeeeehaw!"
 

We got to my grandparent's house in record time. It
took about a third of the time it would have taken me
had I walked. I visited with my grandparents for a
while and gave monster dog some water and a few slices
of bologna as a treat (he LOVED bologna!) Then we
headed back.

When we got back I rode him for a really long time
just around the yard. It seemed like hours, but even
after all that when I finally got tired and got down
off of him he was still ready and rarin to go. He ran
over and grabbed his tennis ball and assumed the
playing position. We played fetch for about a half
hour, and I was absolutely beat. He still wanted to
play but I had had enough. I gave him some doggy
biscuits and then we both went inside for the evening.

He was my favorite from that point on, and we were
best buddies.