![]() ![]() He was always in the wrong place, barking when he ought to shut up, standing in the gate when he should have been someplace else. Everybody likes the idea of having a dog that can work cattle, but very few people have the time and patience to do it. They have inbred instincts to do something, but nobody takes the time to train them because cowdogs require a lot of time and patience. ![]() “He was an Australian shepherd, typical of cowdogs in this area. ![]() Hank was modeled after a cowdog Erickson once knew on a ranch in the mid-1970s. Their titles offer a glimpse - “Murder in the Middle Pasture,” “The Wounded Buzzard on Christmas Eve,” and the newest, “The Case of the Haystack Kitties.” The books, rich in dialogue and detail about ranch life, chronicle the comic misadventures of Hank as he pursues monsters and solves mysteries. As the self-proclaimed Head of Ranch Security, Hank rides herd over a cast of characters that includes a “short-haired, sawed-off, stub-tailed, chicken-hearted” mutt sidekick named Drover, a wisecracking barn cat named Pete, an underappreciated and insecure cowboy named Slim, and the owners of the ranch, High Loper and Sally May, who constantly tangle with Hank. Hank has a Texas drawl much the same as Erickson, who was bred in Perrytown, about 40 miles from his Texas ranch. ![]()
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