Taffy Come Home
A Letter From The Editor
recently learned that my mother was
I correct all along , “ never jump to conclusions .”
Well , recently , I Jumped . I wasn ’ t alone , most of Facebook jumped right along with me .
It began with a glance at Facebook while drinking a protein shake , chased down with strong , hot coffee . Reposted by a friend and fellow animal lover , with the headline , “ Weatherford Resident Kathy Hawkins leaves Great Pyrenees to die .”
The guy that originally posted the piece spun a colorful yarn about his weekend hunting excursion and finding a ragged , exhausted , 12-year-old Great Pyrenees , “ in the middle of a ranch .”
The post described the dog as malnourished , “ probably didn ’ t have much time left ,” and exhausted , “ I ’ m sure from dodging coyotes all night .” The postwriter went on to say that the owner of the dog had dumped “ him ” five days earlier , “ apparently .” He said , he ’ d , “ asked around and found that the owner had been tracked down and contacted , and they weren ’ t coming back to get him .”
The post ended with , “ Nice going Kathy . Let her know how you feel .” Being a helpful soul , he included a Weatherford phone number . WOW !
I was appalled . How could anyone dump a Great Pyrenees , especially an old one and leave it to die , bewildered and alone , ripped apart by a pack of coyotes ? The post included a map to “ Kathy ’ s ” house and her address . Not only was this shockingly cruel but it was besmirching the name of all Parker County dwellers . I had to call this cruel Kathy . The woman who answered was neither cruel nor was she named Kathy . It was Patricia Hawkins who answered the phone and she was kind , gracious but a bit bewildered about why she was bombarded by angry calls beginning at 6:30 the morning before .
Had she ever owned a Great Pyrenees dog ? She had , but her dog was a female , 13 years old , named Taffy . Patricia and her husband had Taffy since she was a pup . They ’ d had a 25-acre farm where they raised goats . Murderous coyotes
Patricia Hawkins with Marsha Brown and Taffy
were a huge problem . “ We tried everything ,” she said . “ We got donkeys , longhorns , nothing kept them from killing our goats .” Talking to her banker who also raised goats , she asked the woman how she dealt with the coyote problem . Her banker said , “ You need a Great Pyrenees .” Patricia replied , “ I can ’ t afford a Great Pyrenees .” The banker said her dog had a litter of pups and she had one that wouldn ’ t come with papers , but would be a great deterrent against coyotes . Patricia was thrilled and 3-month-old Taffy became part of the Hawkins household .
“ My banker warned us not to make a pet out of Taffy because she needed to focus on guarding our herd ,” she said . “ We tried but that didn ’ t last long . She was too cute . But , we never lost another goat to coyotes . Taffy was a great herding dog and a great member of the family .”
Then six years ago , Patricia ’ s husband Willie was diagnosed with dementia . Eventually , the disease progressed to the point that she couldn ’ t adequately care for him at home and she sold their home and moved with Willie into an assisted living center that didn ’ t allow pets .
Photo by Steve Schillio
“ We had two dogs ,” Patricia said . “ A condition of selling the house was that I would do it only if I could find good homes for our dogs . The people who bought our house agreed to take both the dogs if they got along with their dogs .” One of their dogs got along just fine with the new dogs , but Taffy didn ’ t .
Patricia and her family were frantic to find a great home for the Great Pyrenees . Patricia ’ s granddaughter found a solution . Her co-worker ’ s newly widowed mother had just buried her dog and was lonely in a big house with a lot of land . It would be a perfect place for Taffy . Patricia took Taffy to her vet , making sure she had no health issues , then to her groomer , the family took pictures with her and finally , Patricia ’ s grandson drove Taffy to her new “ furrever ” home in Eastland last July . Patricia and Willie moved into an assisted living center in Weatherford .
For the first few weeks , Taffy ’ s new mom posted pictures on Facebook and Patricia found comfort in the knowledge that Taffy was happy and loved . In Sep-
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