I believe it was a Saturday morning in February when I made my way to their home. They live in the Ocala Forest and had been hunting with dogs for most of their lives. They had the standard kennel setup but their vehicles were not as beat-up as some I had seen. Their dog boxes were as I had come to expect. Janet and Roy had both beagles and walker hounds. Janet liked the little ones and Roy the big ones. As I didn't have a truck, I rode with them starting first with Roy and then, after she got more comfortable having me around, with Janet. Course I didn't know then that she had a pistol under her seat in case I tried something funny.

Janet loaded Molly and her dogs into her dog box. She marveled at how Molly just jumped up into the box as if she were enjoying the experience, which I could tell she was. We headed out to the woods on the south side of Route 40 where the fox hunting was allowed. Its called fox hunting but it's hard to tell a hunting dog that it can't chase a deer so mostly it turns into "whatever the dog can find" hunting. Some folks call the deer 'tall fox' at that time of year.

Anyway to make a short story shorter, we found some tracks, put the dogs down and off they went. Janet could tell when the dogs jumped the deer by the difference in their barks. After the race was on for a short while, we sped out to the main road and around the corner to see if the deer would cross the road. Sure enough, three deer came out of the woods a short way down the road from us. We drove down to watch the dogs cross. I couldn't believe my eyes when the first dog out of the woods turned out to be Molly. Janet turned to me and simply said, "She is good!" I could not have been more proud or full of myself and Molly than I was at that time. I knew I had a hunting dog and partner!

"I knew I had a hunting dog and partner!"

As we hunted on subsequent weekends, Janet was also amazed at how well Molly minded me and paid attention to me. Molly would look directly into my eyes when I spoke to her as if she understood every word I was saying. I also demonstrated to them how Molly would come back to me if I called her and stay around until I put her on a track. She wasn't an independent hunter. This trait would quickly be lost when Molly discovered that if she went off trailing a deer I would show up at the other end. Once this insight was obtained by the little twit, I became very uneasy taking her to the woods because she would not bark and I could not find her if she didn't. One time she got lost and was found up on Route 40. A passerby picked her up and called our number that was on her collar. Pam was able to reach us via Janet's cell phone and I went and picked her up. That week Pam and I agreed that I should buy a radio tracking collar for her. With that equipment I can always find the 'girls' as I came to call them. I originally referred to Molly and Lula as 'the pups' but Janet called her dogs her 'girls' and I followed suit.

Janet's dogs had marks or brands on their sides in white. An "R" on one side for Reese and a number on the other side. She explained that this numbering was to help prevent the dogs from being stolen. "Dognappers" on many occasions have stolen unmarked dogs from one area for sale or use in another area but it is more difficult to sell a marked animal.

Janet uses cold branding to mark her dark-haired animals. This is done with the use of a branding iron and a cryogenic liquid such as liquid nitrogen or dry ice. The branding iron is placed in the material to get it extremely cold and then the dog is marked. Janet told me that it was a very painful experience and many dogs became incontinent when branded. If the iron is applied for the right amount of time, the hair in the branding area grows back white in color, permanently marking the dog. If the iron was left in contact with the skin too long, the area does not heal and a scar similar to that which cows and horses get when heat-branded is the result. Another manner of marking, especially for light-colored dogs, is the less painful painting method where the identifiers are spray-painted on the dog's side.

I opted for the less painful paint-marking method for Molly, initially using white paint and a template cut from a plastic plate; however, the paint did not stand up to the rigors of the chase and would wear off quickly. Eventually, I thought of using bleach as the marking means but did not want to use straight household bleach as that can cause painful chemical burns. I went to a hair styling salon and asked them about any products that could be used with little fear of pain. I was directed to a product called Invisi Bleach. This is a bleaching cream used to bleach ladies' facial, arm and leg hair.

The bleach-branded look.

Using the bleaching cream with the template and a small paint brush I marked Molly. I put the symbol Pam and I had shared since high school on one side. This is a combination J and P connected with the loop of the P finishing off the top right arm of the J, a symbol Pam had tattooed on her butt when she was 49. On Molly's other side I was going to put the number 143 which is a code Pam and I devised in high school meaning I (1) Love (4) You (3). Alas ... Molly's side wasn't big enough for this banner so the number 3 was used. I did not know at that time that I would get to use the other two numbers later.

This bleaching method works well. The lettering and numbering remain clearly visible for about two months, then the bleaching cream is applied again.

Shortly after Molly's first birthday on June 29, 1997, I enrolled us in an obedience class to be taught by the Apopka Police Department Canine Team. I'm not sure who got the most out of the class or became the more obedient but after the class was over and with some extra effort in the back yard, Molly would follow most of the commands I gave her and knew how to sit, lie down, shake, heel and stay. She wouldn't chase crooks though. Later, her cleverness and ability to obey commands was to astound my hunting buds. This training and the fact that Molly was a house pet and slept in bed with Pam and I certainly did not fit the hunting dog mold.

In 1997 I didn't see Lula much at all. She did come for her annual vacation but Doug didn't get over to the forest much. So it went for that year and much of the next. In 1998 when I called Doug to ask if Lula could come over for her vacation, I was surprised when he told me that he had given her away. I had always told Doug that I wanted Lula if he couldn't keep her or if she got too old to hunt and he didn't want her. He knew I loved her and meant it. He said he had changed jobs and that the county had gotten on him for operating an unlicensed kennel, making him get rid of the dogs in a hurry. I was very upset by this news and asked whom he had given her to. He told me his friend Jim who lived up the street.

I called Jim and explained to him about Lula's annual vacation and coming up to Ocala to help me find wounded deer. He said I could take her but that she was not a good hunter any longer. I told him I didn't mind and he said ok. I went over to pick her up and found her to be in terrible shape. Her teats were almost rubbing on the ground when she stood up and she was listless; but still, the kisses ... always giving the kisses. I put her in the front seat with me and off we went.

Continued—»