“What can I say about Sherlock? He wasn’t an easy hound to adopt. He had been adopted before and managed to find his way back to the kennels. I remember the day Mark decided it was time for Sherlock to find a new home. We had just hunted the North Country fixture. Mark was loading the hounds into the trailer and Sherlock was the last one. You guessed it, Mark slammed the door shut in his face, grabbed his collar and asked me if I was ready to take him home. You should have seen the look on Sherlock’s face. Priceless. So I got a lead rope and loaded Sherlock into my trailer. All the drive home I kept thinking what have I got myself into. I really didn’t need another animal to care for.
Sherlock just managed to wiggle his way into my heart since my first hunt. Of course I didn’t have a place to keep him so I had to call AAA Fence and have them build a kennel. He was very shy and not used to being handled. I would take him for long walks around the hayfield on a long leash. After a couple months I decided he was ready to go on his own. He would explore the field with my corgi by his side. This was our routine for a couple weeks and then one day he was gone. Somewhere between our walk around the field and going back to his kennel he disappeared. I called and drove around looking for him. All my neighbors were on alert for him. He was gone. I called Mark and told him what happened. I knew he would try to go back to the kennels but the Ohio River was a pretty big obstacle for him to cross.
10 days later I was standing at the kitchen sink and heard him voicing. I looked out the window and there he was. Standing on the deck looking at me. That was the first time he came into the house. I sat down on the floor and he snuggled into my lap. He was thin and had blisters on his paws. I just couldn’t believe he came back. That was 2 1/2 years ago. After that day he was never locked in the kennel again. His doghouse is now under the carport by the house and he is free to roam the fields and woods. He has never left the yard again. He greets me every morning, hangs out in the barn while I care for the horses, walks around the fields while I bush hog and escorts me back to the house every evening. He has learned that petting and hugs are a good thing and demands affection when I come home from work everyday. Sherlock turns 13 this year.”
~ Lisa, whipper-in and Sherlock’s owner/retirement home
Shawnee Hounds 