Hank the Cowdog: The Case of the Hooking Bull

     Growing up in Hico, Texas...a very small town...with farms and ranches all around, I had many encounters with 'cowdogs.'  I think cowdogs might be called mutts in other places, but don't tell Hank the Cowdog!  He thinks he's a fine pedigree of dog.  As a boy, I hauled hay, fed chickens, and...sometimes, had to cross the field where a big, bad bull ruled.

    In John Erickson's Hank the Cowdog:  The Case of the Hooking Bull, Hank and his cowboy pal, Slim, are tending the ranch as owners Sally May and Loper are out of town.  Since Hank is 'Head of Ranch Security,' he spends his time protecting the ranch from calamity.  All goes well...at least according to Hank...until they meet an ornery bull.

Let's take a look...

    "Hey, I had worked with bulls before.  I know they were capable of inflicting damage if they got half a chance, but I also knew that once you get a bull turned and running off in the right direction, 97.4 percent of the time he'll keep going and won't turn to fight.

     So I played the percentages, right?  When the numbers are on your side, everything's supposed to turn out just fine, and what more can a dog do?

     Okay, I'll tell you what happened after I bit that stupid bull on the heels, but I'm not proud of it and there's no reason for blabbing it all over the country.

     I sank my teeth into his left hock, little suspecting that he might kick me into a low polar orbit with the right one, and never dreaming that he could do it in the blink of an eye.  But he derned sure did.

     Kicked me dead-center in the rib cage, and I thought I had been run over by a large truck.  All at once I saw red checkers and skyrockets exploding behind my eyes.  I couldn't breathe.  I couldn't think.  I couldn't move.

     I don't know how far I flew through the air, but it wasn't far enough.  I landed nose-first in the side of a sandhill.  I lay there on the ground, gasping for breath and trying to restart my heart, when I began to realize that this killer hooking bull wasn't finished with me."

Oh. my!  What do you think will happen next?  Is this the last of the Hank the Cowdog books?  Will Hank be trampled flat by the killer hooking bull? 

Read Hank the Cowdog:  The Case of the Hooking Bull, by John Erickson to see. 

Add your comments so we can all see how you liked the book...