Rusty Stories

A little background, Rusty is a dog. He has orange hair, mixed in with his brown and grey coat. Hence his name. Not terribly original but Rusty is okay with it. Rusty had lived with Mrs. Alvera Wilson since he was a puppy. However, Mrs. Wilson had a stroke and had to move into Shady Hills Nursing Home. Therefore, Sam, the local town veterinarian adopted Rusty.

Rusty was 5 years old now and very much enjoyed his life with Sam. Plus, every Thursday, they go to visit Mrs. Wilson and the other residents at Shady Hills. Rusty also gets to go to work with Sam everyday. Sam’s staff consider Rusty a part of the staff. Rusty does too!

When Sam isn’t taking care of animals he enjoys being outdoors. He loves camping and fishing. Rusty goes along of course. The only problem is, Rusty is afraid of water. This seems strange for a dog, in that most dogs just dive in and dog paddle. But Rusty cannot do it, he doesn’t like being on a boat or even getting too close to shore.

Sam understands Rusty and is accommodating of his water phobia. Sam camps a distance from the shore of whatever lake they go to and when Sam goes fishing, Rusty spends his time on shore “guarding the camp”. Plus Rusty loves all the smells and sounds of the camp ground.

They arrived at camp late on Friday night. Sam set up the tent and they had a light meal, a sandwich for Sam and kibble for Rusty. Then, Sam told Rusty, he’d like to head out fishing early the next morning, so he’d like to get to bed. Rusty agreed, it had been a long day and Rusty spends a lot of time on their drives sticking his head out the window. Fresh air can make a dog tired!

The next morning, Sam woke up, made coffee on the fire and got them breakfast. Eggs and bacon for Sam and kibble for Rusty with a little bacon on the side. Then Sam said he’d be heading out to fish. Rusty planned to sniff around the area and then maybe take a nap. Rusty never went to far away as he enjoyed his life with Sam and didn’t want to get lost.

Sam headed out and Rusty began his sniffing, the area they were in was pretty deserted, so no other tents were around them. This allowed Rusty a pretty nice area to sniff. Suddenly, Rusty heard a weird sound, something like “eeeeeeeeooooooooo” Rusty had never heard anything like it, was it a bird? Rusty looked around the area and didn’t see anything unusual.

He kept looking but then didn’t hear the sound again, so he headed back to the tent to take a nap. Soon after, Sam returned with some fish. “I got some nice perch!” Sam told Rusty. “I’ll cut them up for lunch.” Sam fried them up and Rusty had a bit too. Then, Sam laid down and had a nap too and Rusty napped again. A lot of fresh air when one is camping.

Sam woke up and told Rusty, “I’m going to get cleaned up and head to mass. I saw a church along the lake with services at 4pm. I don’t think this church will let you come the way Father Mike does at St. Timothy’s.” Rusty was okay with that as it would involve taking the boat. Sam was Catholic and went to mass each weekend. At St. Timothy’s Rusty was allowed to come and sleep on the pillow in Father Mike’s office.

Sam headed out a little while later and Rusty started a new sniffing routine. “eeeeeeeeoooooo!!” There it was again! Rusty again began hunting for the source. Two more times he heard the sound and it seemed to be getting more desperate.

Rusty went further into the woods than he normally would to try to find out where the sound was coming from. Pretty soon, he came upon a group of trees and under one of them was a baby bear! The bear had a very sore looking foot and was yelling to make it known. Rusty had to get Sam! But Sam was at church across the lake!!

Rusty headed back to camp to try to think of something. When he got to camp a group of guys had arrived and set up camp a ways down from Sam and Rusty’s tent. They were in the process of launching their boat. Rusty thought of getting their attention and seeing if they could help, but they were not veterinarians like Sam.

Rusty sighed, he had to get on the boat! The guys were in the boat and about to take off, three of them. They were all facing the lake, so Rusty quickly climbed in and ducked under the bench on the side of the boat. Soon they were gliding across the lake.

“So I heard there is a great spot just in front of the Catholic church.” One guy was saying. “Makes sense, ” Said another, “God made the fish.” Rusty was in luck, if they stopped in front of the church he could get to Sam!

they began to slow down after a bit. “There’s the church” one said, “Where’s the spot?” Rusty knew he had to get their attention so they took him to shore to get to Sam. Rusty came out from under the bench and barked. They jumped at the sound. “Hey! Where did you come from?” Rusty barked again and looked toward the church.

One of the guys looked at the tag on Rusty’s collar. “Rusty” he said, belongs to a veterinarian named Sam. Rusty again barked and looked at the church. “He really seems to want to go to the church.” one of the guys said. “Well Rusty, I don’t know what you want with a church, but we’ll head over there.” As they approached the shore, Rusty saw Sam’s boat.

One of the guys hopped out as they got to the dock, “Well boy where do you want to go?”” Rusty was already running toward the church. “Hey!” wait up” The guy said and followed Rusty. Rusty had gotten to the doors of the church by then and the guy caught up and opened it for him. Rusty ran into the church looking for Sam.

The guy was still following and looking around at the mass in progress. Rusty spotted Sam and headed toward him. Rusty nudged his leg, not wanting to bark in church. Sam looked down and was shocked. “Rusty!” he whispered “what are you doing here?” Sam quietly left the service and headed out to the front of the church.

The guy who had followed Rusty was there and explained, “We were going fishing and didn’t notice him on the boat. Then he came out and started barking and wanting to go to this church.” Sam looked down at Rusty. “Something must be really wrong to get you on a boat.”

“He’s afraid of water..” Sam explained to the guy. “I’m Sam, Rusty’s owner.” “I’m Alex.” the guy said. My “My friends Adam and Paul came up here to fish.”

“Well, ” Sam said, “I’d like to go in and finish the service and then I’ll take Rusty back and find out what’s going on.” Sam headed back in and Rusty followed until the door and then laid down on the step.

Alex went over to Rusty, “I can stay with you, if you’d like.” Rusty really didn’t need a companion now that he’d found Sam. Alex’s friends came over to them and said, “You haven’t had enough of church, Alex.? I thought we were fishing.”

Alex smiled, “I never have enough of church , that’s why I’m becoming a priest, so are you two.” They smiled back, “Yes, but today we are fishing!” Alex countered, “So were Peter and Andrew when Jesus called them.”

After a little bit, Sam and the other parishioners came out along with the priest. “Alex, Paul and ‘Adam, I thought you were fishing!” the Priest said to them. “We were, Father Jim, but this little dog had other ideas.” Alex told him.

“Yes!” Father Jim said, “Its the little dog who disrupted my mass.” Sam came over and apologized. “Sorry Father, he must have needed me.” Rusty had forgotten the injured bear in all the excitement. Rusty barked and started toward the boat. Father Jim replied, “Yes, he seems to want to go.. I shall pray the problem is easily solved.” Sam smiled “Thank you Father.”

Alex told the guys, “We are following them back. I need to know what is going on.” Paul laughed, “So much for fishing.”

They all glided across the lake, Rusty hiding under the bench. As soon as they got back, Rusty ran from the boat and Sam and the guys followed him to the tree and the bear. Sam looked around, “I just want to be sure its mother isn’t nearby. You do not want to get between a bear and her baby.’

Alex told him, “I don’t see any sign of life but eh baby.” Sam asked, “Alex can you go to the tent and get my bag? It’s red.’ Allex said he could. When he returned, Sam cleaned the wound and put some pain medicine on it and bandaged it. The bear was cooperative, seeming to know Sam was there to help.

Sam and the guys and Rusty left the bear and headed back to camp. “I hope its mother comes back.” Alex said. “We’ll check in the morning.’ Sam said. The guys and Sam had a nice time hanging out by the campfire talking about the seminary. Sam had considered the priesthood before going on to veterinary school..

When they woke the next morning, Rusty walked over by the tree and the baby bear was gone. “The mother probably came.” Sam told Rusty. They packed up and said goodbye to the guys. As they headed out of camp in their truck, they saw a mother bear up on a hill with two cubs. One cub had a white bandage on its foot.

“Rusty you were very brave. I know you don’t like water but you helped the bear.:” Rusty didn’t hear him, he had his head out the window and was enjoying the breeze.