Our LOKI dog!

It's the 4th of July.  Independence Day!  Fireworks!  Guns!  Fire truck sirens!  Dogs losing their minds!!!

Many years ago, we were living in the southland and we had a 3 year old Norwegian Elkhound.  He was a wonderful dog.  Great with the kids and took his job of protecting his people very seriously.  My husband traveled a lot and when he was away the dog spent the nights in the house.  There was more than once when Larry came home in the middle of the night and tapped on the bedroom window to tell me, "tell that damn dog I live here".  The kids and I could walk anywhere and the 'dudes' would make their stupid cat calls but they always crossed the street when they got close to us.

Fourth of July was tough for him.  Because of the fireworks, legal & illegal, the fire trucks (the station was directly across the street) with their sirens blaring as they came out of the barn, gun shots (there are always a few idiots in every neighborhood) ... and this dog was terrified.  We ended up tranquilizing him from about July first for maybe a week.

One year, Larry happened to be home on the fourth and Loki was sleeping outside and, yes, he was tranq'd.  We woke to a strange noise and when I looked, this poor dog was under the bedroom window trying to alert us, in his tranquilized haze, to an intruder on the other side of the fence.  Once he knew we were aware and in charge, his head dropped and he returned to dreamland.

We discovered there was a man just outside the fence but couldn't tell whether he was injured, on drugs, or what.  He'd done his job!  Good, no - great, dog!

The rest of the story ... we called the police and were advised that our house and address didn't exist so they couldn't come out to help.  When we advised that we were located directly across the street from fire station #48 that didn't seem to mean much either.  After 3 or 4 phone calls and my frustration level having peaked, I gave them directions from the nearest donut shop.  Okay, not my smartest move.  We ended up calling the fire station and asking the guys to call the  police.  They came over, took the man into custody and made that call.  Hmmm, the police were able to find them.  I considered notifying the bank that my house and address were non-existent and therefore I'd no longer be paying my mortgage but I was willing to bet the police would find the address and evict us just out of spite.

When we relocated to Fresno, we brought Loki with us.  He lived to be over 16 years old and, like my Katie, was one of the best dogs to ever love and be loved.