Tishka

Tishka

Once we three men gathered to hunt, decided to shoot ducks, but despite the fact that it was December time, the slush was unimaginable, it rained every other day. For complete happiness we needed a special hunting dog to get the ducks because we didn’t want to go into the water by ourselves, you can fall into a deep swampy area, and even your high boots won’t protect you. One of my mates called a friend of his, the one who had a dog. All familiar hunters strongly recommended us to take Tishka – this was the dog’s nickname.

We arrived at the required address and began to wait for the dog. Suddenly an unthinkable creature appeared in front of us, small, black, and shaggy, it was not clear what breed it is. But he definitely had plenty of dignity, more than enough. After the critical examination of the vehicle which was parked at the gate and the ones who were sitting in it, Tishka headed for the front seat. Then he barked loudly making it clear he would stay nowhere else but here. Whatever we did to make him stay at the back seat – there was no use; he jumped out and returned to the front one. Well, there was nothing to be done with it. Two of us had to cramp up with the guns and other equipment at the back seat, while Tishka of course was sitting in front, pleased, grinning like a human being, sticking out his tongue and squealing excitedly. It seemed as if he was hurrying the driver, saying, come on, let’s go, what are you waiting for?

As we quickly got our destination, the dog jumped out, running his nose along the ground, ready to go immediately. If it wasn’t for the harness, he would disappear without a trace. We approached a small lake and let Tishka off. He startled a swarm of ducks and ran back to us, sat nearby and watched us attentively – which one of us would shoot the game? My shot was successful – I hit the first one at once. The dog rushed and grabbed its neck almost on the fly, and put it at my feet with deep respect.

One of my mates was not so lucky, he missed, and more than once. Tishka just went into frenzy! Ran up to him, barked, saying you were a dauber. He dug the ground furiously with his hind paws, as if he wanted to bury something. And he shook his head so reproachfully that it was impossible to look at it without laughing. Of course, we laughed out loudly, but Tishka sat down and looked at us expectantly again: “Did you come here to laugh or to do business?”

We felt almost embarrassed in front of this little kid. This is the way he had been examining us all along and gave his own canine assessment for each shot. With all this in mind, those ones who were unlucky with the shots had to think once again and reinsured themselves so as not to miss. Who wants to be a laughing stock for a dog?

By the end of the day everybody had been tired and muddy – the most tired and muddiest one was Tishka, wet as a drowned rat, as he had been running on puddles and dirt. How to place him on the seat of the car? We intended to put him in the open trunk; you know, our vehicle is like a kind of the passenger truck. No way! Tishka didn’t give up his rights to sit by the driver’s side. I had covered the seat with a tarpaulin and placed the doggy there - can’t leave that guy in the forest, as you understand. Tishka rode back, seemed to be even more satisfied, with a sense of accomplishment, slyly looking at the losers as if he was saying: don’t be afraid, I won’t tell anyone!