Life With Ferris: Dude The Dog

Dude is a dog that does not look like he would be called Dude. Not too many generations removed from his wolf ancestry, the menacing-looking canine looks like he could have come straight from “White Fang.”

But he doesn’t act that way.

I moved down the street from Dude a few years ago, and as I was unpacking boxes, my mother said, “There is a wolf in your front yard.” That was the last thing I expected in my new civilized neighborhood, but I grabbed my dogs’ collars and peered out the window at a thick-necked, shaggy-haired mammal that was lurching around the rhododendron. 

A few days later, I officially met Dude, Chuck and Tina Davis’s dog. Just like the main character in “The Big Lebowski,” the Dude on Bartram Road abides. Perfectly chill in his old age, Dude can’t really hear or see, but he’s definitely still in the game. The social mammal slowly saunters around the neighborhood, checking on the Hills as they were moving into Mr. Thatcher’s house, and making his way up the hill to the Schriner’s house, where he is rewarded regularly with a treat from Frank and Gracie and their grandson, Max. 

Everybody knows Dude, from the mailman to the UPS driver to friends of friends who have heard tell of him. So when he went missing last spring, all manner of folks were concerned. Chuck and Tina weren’t worried at first, as Dude is always on short walkabouts when he takes a break from his bed on the front porch. But he was never gone overnight.

Everyone was on high alert, combing the neighborhood for this beloved canine fixture. The search was extra frustrating because Dude is basically blind and deaf, so the Davises were beside themselves with worry, knowing their pet wouldn’t be able to hear his name being called. 

Since Dude is not nimble, and can barely make it up the hill to see Gracie for a treat, everyone assumed he had gotten confused about where he was and just hunkered down somewhere nearby, maybe in the woods or in someone’s garage. But no one found any sign of him.

After nearly a week, the Davises were heartsick. And after nearly a week of keeping her eye out, Marsha Phillips, a mail carrier at the Lookout Mountain Post Office, spotted what first looked like a wolf out past Covenant College. She pulled up close to the animal, recognizing him immediately. Since she was on duty, she couldn’t put him in the vehicle, but she drove back to the spot the second she was clocked out.

“I told him I would come back for him, and I did,” she said simply. After working all day, she loaded Dude up and drove him home.

There are lots of folks who hope Dude abides for a very long time.

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Ferris Robinson is the author of three children’s books, “The Queen Who Banished Bugs,” “The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds,” and “Call Me Arthropod” in her pollinator series. “Making Arrangements” is her first novel. “Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity” is a collection of true tales about man’s best friend. Her website is ferrisrobinson.com and you can download a FREE pollinator poster there. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror.