Coonhound cemetery

As some blog readers know -- along with  every single one of my neighbors -- I have the most obnoxious, loud, stupid, stubborn, cat harassing, unmanageable dog in the South Bay.

There are plenty of days when I want to send him to the pound, drive him out to the country and leave him there or just plain strangle him.

But Rocket is also as sweet and good natured as any dog ever was. He's likes hang out, flirt with girls and rassle with other dogs for hours at a time.

Rocket is a coonhound, something of a rarity here in these parts, but quite common in the South. Not a week goes by when some old man will stop and tell me how he had a coon dawg when hewere a boy growing back home.

Coon dogs are also featured in the book "Where the Red Fern Grows," something else strangers are always talking to me about.

Different people are attracted to different breeds. Who knows why? But coonhounds seem to have an especially loyal following. Coonhounds even have a special place to go when they die. And no, I don't mean that spiritually.

There's actually a coonhound cemetery in Alabama.

It's called the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Cemetery.

Other breeds may have their own cemetery, but I've never heard of it.

A man named Key Underwood started it in the late 30s when his beloved coon hound died. Other hunters followed and today there are dozens of coon dogs buried there.

This is from their Web site:

Some of the burial ground's headstones are crafted of wood, some of sheet metal. Others are not unlike the stones found in a "normal" cemetery

But, of course, the names of the deceased are different and so are the epitaphs.

For example, listed among the dead are Patches, Preacher, Smoky, Bean Blossom Bomma and Night Ranger. And etched along with these names are tributes such as, "A joy to hunt with" and "He wasn't the best, but he was the best I ever had."

 

 

I honestly can't say Rocket is the best I ever had -- that honor goes to another coon dog named Buck, who lived to be 17! But he's better than all the others. And someday -- but not for a really long time -- maybe I'll drive him down there. Or next week if he doesn't shape up!