Birth of a hunting dog Part 1

I didn't think it was very funny. I lost a bet. My two fraternity brothers were holding my clothes.

I was in a lake skinny dipping, completely naked.

"Come on guys!" I yelled. "Give me back my clothes. I ready to come out!"

"Oh no, you still have a few minutes to swim," said Rob, a rich snob from New York. He'd definitely had too much to drink.

"Yeah, you lost a bet, now pay the price," yelled Wes, who like me came from a middle class family. He was also quite drunk.

It was November. It was cold. We were out in the country, far from school, god knows where.

Then suddenly a shot rang out.

"You boys get off my property!" I heard a man shout.

I reacted in horror as Rob and Wes ran for their lives. And took my clothes with them.

"Hey guys, come back!" I yelled.

They didn't. I didn't know what to do. I was hoping the man who shot the gun wouldn't notice me.

I heard the yelps of hunting dogs. They found their way to the shore of the lake. Then a bearded man appeared in camoflaug, carrying a shot gun.

"You there! Come out of the water!" he shouted, pointing the gun straight at me.

Fear ran through my mind. But did what he said and slowly climbed out of the water, shivering. He started laughing as I was coming out when he noticed I wasn't wearing any clothes.

"You're in big trouble boy," he laughed. "I don't see any clothes around here."

"My...my friends...took them," I stammered. "They ran off."

"I wonder what the sheriff is going to say," he said, "when I bring you to the jail naked as a jaybird."

He laughed even more as his dogs jumped up on me, growling at first, then sniffing and licking. It made me nervous. I tried to squirm away from them.

"The boys have taken quite a liking to you," the man laughed. "I don't think they've ever seen a man without clothes. Maybe they think your some kind of animal."

It made me feel even more humiliated. I felt every scratch and every briar as we walked to his truck. The man continued to point his gun at me.

He snapped his fingers. His two dogs obediently jumped into the flatbed of his truck. He latched a chain around the collar of one of his dogs. The chain was bolted to the flatbed.

I saw my opportunity. I hoped my friends were still around and took of running. I didn't get very far. The man whistled and said "get him, Duke!" The other dog ran and knocked me over and had me by the throat.

The man also pointed his gun, petted his dog.

"Good boy, Duke, good boy" he said.

"You try to run off and I'll fill you full of lead," he said.

I shook my head. And told him I would not run.

"Please help me," I said.

He ignored the reply.

He snapped his fingers and Duke leaped back onto the truck. He snapped the chain around the dog's collar, but kept his eye on me the whole time.

He made me sit on a stump while he secured the dog.

"Now, what am I going to do with you?" he said as he led me to the passenger side of the truck.

He opened the door, looked down on the floor board and saw a collar.

"I forgot I still had old Buster's collar," he said.

Suddenly he grinned a mile wide.

"Buster was a good ole dog who died last winter," he said as he slammed the passenger side door before I could climb in.

"He was a special dog," he said. "And only special dogs get to ride inside my truck."

He led me to the back of the truck. He pulled two padlocks out of a tool box.

"I'll bet Buster's collar will just about fit you," he said as he pulled it around my neck. "Almost perfectly."

He used one lock to lock the collar around my neck. There was another chain bolted on to the flatbed and he locked the chain around the collar.

"Well boy, all other dogs ride in the back," he said as he petted my head, which made me very nervous.

I climbed in and laid between Duke and the other dog.

He was still laughing as he climbed in his truck.

The ride to his house wasn't very pleasant. We went down a bumpy, dusty road, which seemed to jar every bone in my body. The steel floor was also very cold, although I was beginning to get used to being naked despite the cool weather.

Fortunately, the trip didn't last very long. We pulled behind what looked to be a shack.

"We're home boys!" he shouted as he climbed out of his truck.

He unhooked the first dog, who hopped out of the truck. He then unhooked Duke.

He unhooked me from the chain and told me to get out of the truck. I complied like his dogs, but I didn't hop down to all fours.

"Well boy, I'm not going to turn you in to the sheriff," he said. "You asked for help, and I'm going to help you."

I began to breath a sigh of relief, hoping maybe the humiliation was over.

"I've already clothed you," he said with a laugh, tugging at the collar.

"I'll give you something to eat, we have plenty," he said, pointing to a large bag of dog food.

"I'll give you a place to stay," he said, pointing to a dog pen with a large dog house. There were two other dogs in the pen.

I did my best to protest, but he threatened to take me to the sheriff. He pulled me by the collar and led me straight to the pen, shoved me in and locked the door.

"Once my dogs are trained, they get full run of the property, like Ole Duke here," he said. "I know they won't run off."

"The new dogs I buy, I put them in the pen until I have them trained, so I know they won't run off," he said.

"But I also like picking up stray dogs and training them. That's what I did with Ole Buster. That's what I did with Ole Duke. You see, I didn't find a man in my lake. I found a young, untrained, naked dog. You were on my property, and I have the right to keep any animal that strays on my property. You're going to be a challenge. But I'm going to make a hunting dog out of you."