Warren,

Rusty’s tail was dangerous!

So was his paws, teeth, and weight.

His voice was like a tugboat. Low, steady, long, and LOUD. On a still night, you could hear him a mile away.

One day when he was about a year or so old, I was changing the blades on my shredder. The 1 1/2” nuts were froze up. I got up under the shredder with my wrench and a cheater pipe. Rusty decided that he would get up under there and help me.

I was jerking on that wrench and banging on it with a hammer. I probably let a bad word or two slip out in anger.

That was all that Ol’ Rusty could stand. He decided that I needed some help fighting whatever old SOB it was. He started off with a growl that just about curled my blood. Then, he started barking.

Up under that closed in shredder deck, his loud booming voice was like dynamite going off. It hurt my ears all the way through til they rang for an hour.

It hurt like hell but at the same time, it was funny. After I finally got out, he kept growling and barking. I finally had to tie him up to get those blades changed.

For the rest of his life, every time he and I would get close to that tractor and shredder, he would get poke his head under the shredder deck, growl, and bark a couple of times.