Charlie and Barkley: Dogs of Suburbia

Barkley was pretty much the top dog. The adults in the house didn't care. He was our favorite. When the dogs rushed outside Barkley always looked like he was on a serious hunting expedition. He was on a mission and important things were to be found. That dog was short, stout and strong. Especially, his jaws. We loved to play tug and he would jump backwards and tug so hard your arm felt like it would dislocate.

Catch was another favorite. He played catch in the yard and in the house. If someone was in the pool they had to throw the ball for him. Barkley would run the ball back and plop it in the water for another throw. This could go on all day if you let it.

At home we would have a dog fight occasionally. Barkley would provoke Charlie by walking in front of his nose, cutting him off and challenging the Beagle any way he could. It was the occasional time that the Beagle would just have enough of it.

There will be blood and it would be Barkley's.

One time Barkley's muzzle festered after a confrontation. One side became a large balloon. A visit to the vet found it only needed draining. The people in the house had a scare.

When the two dogs would go for a walk on the leashes Barkley was out front. Moving short legs as fast as he could to have a nose forward. The walks were rather orderly and uneventful, always a good workout and a favorite of the pups.

The scenery would be my enjoyment. This area in LA County is called The Foothills. Meaning The Foothills of the San Gabriels. I take in live oaks, mountain ridges and at some spots, a view for miles.

This view is toward the ocean, the 57 Freeway and Kellogg Hills. Many ridges still present beyond till the flats lands are reached. My Mom lives in that direction. 33 miles away in the flat lands of Downey.

Other creatures were a good occupation for the dogs senses.



One time when they were quite young a opossum walked along the wall after dark. Ever since that night they both would bolt out the back door and out do each other to the back fence, racing as fast as their legs would go, Barkley yipping all the way. Of course, there was never another animal to find.



We have had to clean them up after a couple of skunk encounters.

Once in awhile the dogs would be seen with the remains of a gopher or cottontail rabbit. Both dogs had a keen interest in lizards staring at the house walls forever to get a fleeting glimpse. Many neighbors have had the rattle snake curled up in their yard or basking on the driveway during the summer. Never in our yard, though. Fine with me. To me that's the scariest.

Coyotes are a nightly visitor in our area. I worked till midnight for many years and I would see them on this or that street. The thin colorless light gray animals with messy looking coats would dash away with the approach of the car. We never saw them once in our block fenced yard. Most nights we can hear their packs howling or yipping the short fast yelps for minutes at a time, the clamor fading away as they move down to Foothill Boulevard or among the few live oaks clinging to the foothills.

If you owned a cat in our area it was an indoor pet. Never to be seen out and about for fear of life and limb.

We have seen the beautiful bobcat, one just last week, and a huge pile of bear scat in the front yard because we live at the very edge of LA suburbia with vertical land rising with gullies, peaks, streams, oaks and chaparral and plenty of poison oak a half mile north of the neighborhood.

Other sightings have been red tailed hawks, buzzards, white tailed kites, swallows, kestrels, tarantulas, frogs, great horned owl, blue heron, hummingbirds, bats, road runner, cedar wax wings, the occasional deer, or a horse, being a stable is nearby.

Our city is on the outskirts of Los Angeles County.

We were away one evening till about 10pm. Calling the dogs in when we arrived produced Charlie with a wild expression in his eyes. This was strange, it was Charlie who would end up missing once in awhile. He found out how to climb or squeeze through some area in the fence. He would show up the next day.

I called my husband, "Eddie, there's no Barkley."
We both went out into the yard. It was dark and I didn't venture to deep. After just a couple of minutes I heard Eddie.
"He's over here."
"Is he okay?"
"No."

He was coming from the darker side of the house and Barkley was cradled in his out stretched arms. He was injured somehow. As we fixed his tongue that was clamped between his jaws, we tried to figure out what could have happened! Their dog fights could not have done this? We could see Barkley breathing, his chest going up and down. The rest of his body was still. We were in pet emergency shock. Eddie picked him up in both arms again and headed for the door.

"Eddie where are you going?"
"We need to take him somewhere."
"Wait. We better look in the phone book."
After two calls we were advised to take him to the after hours animal emergency in Diamond Bar. It is not too far.

I drove and Eddie held Barkley. One moment it seemed he stop breathing and Eddie gave him a nudge and we could hear him breathe again.

The doctor looked at him a moment and advised x-rays to help assess what had happened. It did not take too long to see the pictures. The doctor had them on a laptop and brought the pictures out and gave us his assessment.

He was breathing through a puncture in his chest. The base of his neck was crushed, and the breathing tube destroyed. His whole left shoulder area was also crushed. He was immobile. We saw the tiniest expression in his eyes. The doctor recovered a small portion of a sharp claw. Working many years as an after hours doctor he confirmed that it was a mountain lion attack. He advised us he was 2% viable.



So we left our Barkley there. He was gone.

Foot print. April, 2008
Kindly made by the assistants of the emergency veterinarian clinic.

At home we checked Charlie. The back thigh had a four inch gash that did not include the muscle. The next day the wound was closing. He had three tufts of hair that had begun to stand up on the lower back. Three needle like punctures were visible. The cat had hit Charlie twice with his claws.

He was very quiet and seemed to want to sleep.

Just a week later a young mountain lion was spotted sitting on a block fence two miles down the hill from us. The fence bordered the 210 Freeway. There was some concern it would flee onto the freeway.

Fish and Game were dispatched. The cat was darted once but because it ran toward a street and traffic they darted it again. Unfortunately, the juvenile died. We could not get any more details of what happened.

California has had bans on mountain lion hunting since 1972. The state voted on the issue in 1990. Our family is certain this was the cat that Barkley met up with. It was a young lion looking for his territory. He was a juvenile pushed down the hill. Each adult defends a territory and new cats are discouraged from entering. The picture is not of the unfortunate cat. The paper showed a slender light tan cat without dark markings.

Bears and the big cats are rarely seen here. None the less, now Charlie is put in his crate when we leave the house after dark. If you should live in such an area, remember you can not be too careful at night.

Good question and answer document about lions in California: Mountains Lions and California State Parks

History in California, news tracking, contacts and more.

Mountain Lion Fountain

Charlie going on thirteen years old. Softening white on his muzzle and ears and around his eyes.