~by Susi Pittman

My grandfather and his family farmed over 600 acres of central Florida citrus and never was the family without a family dog that was also the “grove” dog. They were always German Shepherds.

The first I can remember was Champ and the last was Bosko Von Singoldblick. Sandwiched in-between was Prince and boy was Prince special, he was a German Shepherd/ Wolf hybrid.

He was certainly an “alpha” male and established his domain in the yard and in the groves. My grandfather never believed in fences and containment for his dogs, so Prince led the life every dog dreams of. He was nurtured and cared for from the kitchen table, he slept comfortably on a rug in the hallway between the bedroom and front door, and was able to run his daily perimeter of the groves as my grandfather moved irrigation pipes or buck-horned the trees.

I loved this dog! Whenever I would walk off into the groves just to get lost for a while from the world, or ride the horses to the sandy lakes for a cooling off, Prince was there with me. He was the most gentle, kind animal I have ever known. Though he had a strong “wolf” connection, he was a paradox in temperament for sure.

Everybody loved Prince. He walked with my grandfather to get the mail from the post office and he would sit at the soda fountain when we would get a float. Prince loved people.

He was everything that a dog should be! He loved his people, he loved his work, he was always there when called except on occasions when he would run with a pack of dogs after a female who was in season. Those were the days back then.

But, one event sticks out in my mind forever.

My grandfather was getting on in his years. It was late one night, the weather was stormy and wasn’t the kind of night you would expect someone to be at the door.

There was a knock, several knocks that rousted my grandfather from his bed. He left my grandmother asleep and stumbled to the front door to see the silhouette of a man standing on the other side. Living in a very small town, there had never been the need to fear your neighbor and opening the door to the figure on the other side wasn’t a concern that my grandfather had.

Prince remained back in the hallway.

My grandfather opened the door to find a stranger standing there, wet and disheveled. The man said, “I need some money.” My grandfather said he was sorry but didn’t have any in the house and tried to close the door. But, the man pushed hard, gaining entry as my grandfather did his best to close the door. The man said again, “Listen mister, I want money and I’m gonna get some tonight.”

It was the tone of the man’s voice and my grandfathers frantic response of “No!” that alerted Prince who had been taking all of this in.

In an instant, Prince was on his feet, loping two maybe three times across the floor, as he sprung and hit the stranger in mid-air, taking the stranger and himself out the front door. Prince sunk his teeth into the right arm of the man and he tore at it. The man screamed and pled with my grandfather to call Prince off. My grandfather called Prince and he released the man, though never had Prince been trained to do such a thing.

My grandfather advised the man to “get along” before he sent Prince again. The man left running.

For Prince, the mild, beloved family pet to have become so formidable in an instant was a surprise to all who knew him. Was it his devotion to my grandfather that caused his immediate response to my grandfather’s danger? Was it the “call of the wild” where pack animals sense an impending danger?

I think it was both. All I know is that Prince was a force to be reckoned with! It was the one and only time that he ever responded with aggression. Prince lived the rest of his life as he always had, serving his family.

Susi Pittman is founder of CatholicStewardsofCreation.com and Owner-President of Twin Oaks Publishing; she is author of Animals in Heaven? Catholics Want to Know!; an advocate for the Florida Catholic Conference; a member of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Council of Women in Jacksonville, Florida; an Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Augustine;a member of the Florida Publishers Association, Independent Book Publishers Association, the National Association of Professional Women, the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States and the National Audubon society.