If you’ve missed my article for the last few months, I was giving room for stories about Chimney Rock NC and other communities like ours that suffered from severe flooding. I also spent time helping Ronnie with what I too believe was one of the most important articles that been in the Fulks Run Follies Column, the story of 1st Lt Virgil Burkey and finding his daughter. As promised, we will be writing a follow up article or two about Lyn and her family visiting Fulks Run. She’s truly a sweetheart and I can’t wait to give her an old-fashioned hug!
Now for this month’s Best Friend’s story. This one involves my Uncle Junior Fulk, my mom’s oldest brother, son of Claude Hook and Edith Fulk of Red Hill, Fulks Run. This story takes place in 1954, but my mom told me this story not too long ago. I apologize that some of the details are missing, but the story is 100% true. My Uncle June was in the army and stationed in New Jersey, Fort Dix, I supposed. Junior was the oldest boy of my grandparent’s six children. My mom and her younger sister still lived at home in 1954 when June was enlisted. Rover, June’s hound dog, lived at home with Grandma and the two girls. My grandfather had already passed away.
From the moment Junior left for the army, old Rover missed him, but he seemed to always know when Junior was coming home for a visit. Grandma and the girls figured Rover just heard them talking and mentioning his name. Rover would pace back and forth and sit at the edge of the yard which was on the top of the hill where the house was built. He would sit and watch the lane coming into their house. It was a relatively long lane that had a sharp turn before coming into sight of the house. Rover would sit out there and watch that turn waiting for Junior. He had done that for every leave Junior had gotten.
Well, that was not the case in October of 1954. Rover started pacing, howling and sitting watching the lane. Grandma and the girls were puzzled because Junior wasn’t due home anytime soon, so they hadn’t been talking about him, so hearing his name wasn’t the problem. Rover seemed exceptionally unsettled. He paced and paced, even the two girls couldn’t calm him. From time to time, he’d just sit and howl. Hurricane Hazel was making her way up the East Coast, so they thought perhaps he was reacting to the change in air pressure. They had no clue until the day he leapt from his spot on the hill to run toward the motorcycle coming up the lane. It was a tired wet Junior. He and a friend had been traveling from Fort Dix home on a motorcycle in a hurricane. The dog was overjoyed to see his young man and couldn’t love on him enough.
Junior explained that he and his friend had left New Jersey headed home when it wasn’t raining there, but it soon started to pour. He told them that there were times when they had to stop and wait out the rain under bridges because the rain was so heavy they couldn’t see to drive. My thought is that the other drivers wouldn’t be able to see them either, especially on a motorcycle. I can’t imagine attempting such a ride on a sunny day! Junior explained that he was indeed afraid they might not make it. In some way that old hound dog knew his person was in danger and was heading home.
How did that hound know he was coming? I have only one answer. He loved his owner and was bonded with him, but does that apply here? I don’t know. There’s been research done on how our dog knows when it’s time for us to come home from work. The results show that they can tell when it’s time for us to get home based on how much of our scent is left in the house. I know from a neighbor that our old Plott hound/Border Collie mix would sit on our hill and watch and listen for our car to go by Mt. Grove. He’d then get up and move around to the other side of our house to greet us. Our first Lab, Misty would sit up on the couch or chair looking out the window waiting for us to come home at night when we both worked at Macs Superette. We’d see her nose and eyes because she’d push the curtain aside to watch the driveway.
I did a bit of research and found several studies questioning how dogs know when their owners are coming home. There have been quite a few scientific studies on “Unexplained Powers of Animals”. The consensus is that humans really can’t explain how these animals know their owners are coming home. One research study concluded that there was telepathy between the human and the human’s best friend. Whatever you want to call it, I call it love of a human and a “best friend”. You can choose what you believe, but please don’t try to argue with those of us who believe. You will just become frustrated because we won’t change our minds.
Until Next Time…
Stay Paws-ative and enjoy your best friend!
Happy Tails to You!
Cammie
