229

A. Varesnao interviewing Joe Sulkusky (and Mrs. S.)
- 11 -
Tape 30-2

495
Oh, they were just like your first, they were swimmin' behind her across the
water--they were a little longer than-- not too much. And I hollered at Steve,
and I says, Shut Up! I says, Don't Bother, I says. If Whitey comes he'd
catch them little ones, and I said, what the hell, I said, he maybe won't
mean to kill them, but when he'd grab 'em or tramp on 'em or dive on 'em,
he might kill some of them, I said. Let them go, I said. Come on in a
different direction, away from there. Well, that's the last ones I seen, I
don't see any more. These strippings and all spoiled it, chased everything
out. Yeah, they spoiled it all.

MS: Before this, that one hollow wasn't there. they level every place....

JS: That's the way it is. But--a dog is a very smart animal. they can take
care o' ya. You take a dog--I had another one one time, and my buddies that
hunted with me and my brother, we used to go out in the evening after work--
we'd take these funny books, you know, Wild West and different ones, and we'd
go out here to Number Ten, or up on the grass, up there, it was all grass on
that side, like a field--and lay down and be readin' the books and all, up
in there. And I would go out sometimes myself and then they'd come lookin'
for me. He wouldn't let them come near me--and it was a huntin' dog a
regular rabbit dog--and he wouldn't --Lewey was that'ns name. And that son
of a gun--they'd laugh. they'd say, Well, you rotten son of a gun, we go huntin'
and all, and now you're gonna keep us awake. And he would go for them, though.
He would mean to bite them, I guess. You had to keep the hell away from him.
Yes, they are buggers. A dog'll understand you pretty well.

AV: Oh, boy...Yeah.

JS: You get a good dog, and you train him, talk to him, he'll get to know you and
he'll get to understand you. You don't have to be afraid You're safe.

AV: How do you train them?

JS: Just talk to him. Give him hell if he deserves it, you know, and if he does
somethin' good, pet him up, encourage him that he done good, you know, and
all. He gets to know that.

AV: What's the best kind of dog for hunting?

JS: (He doesn't hear the question) Yeah, you can get 'em. I'll tell you, if you
got a dog like Whitey.....

MS: Joe, she's askin' you, what's the best dog, what kind of dog is the best for
huntin'?

JS: Well, ha ha, I don't know....

MS: Angie, you have to talk loud to him......

JS: ....I could almost train a dog any way, you know, to do anything. Now, take
the one that I said I had pullin' a sleigh. You know I used to go up where
that slope is, up Number Ten, and the guys that worked there, hitchin' on
top and hookin' the cars when they'd come up, and then runnin' empties down
on the chain again, down back in the stink, they used to enjoy it so much
that they used to load my--oh, I had a big box, oh, big box--there used to
be soap that used to come--a wooden box, you know, it used to be, a big son
of a gun about that long and about that deep, I guess, and about that wide--
and they used to fill that box up full of lumps of coal, you know. And then
I had a bag, you know, they'd fill the bag and put it on top of that. And that dog
used to pull that home, and me with it. Only I would start off, at Number
Ten, I would give him a push, helpin', you know, because I think he'd pull
his paws off, and he'd get a grip and get started--ha! Away we'd come down
just like that! He was nice, a really good dog. And just talkin' to him,
and he'd understand everything.

AV: What did you feed him?

JS: Oh, what we ate here! You know, there was a druggist, Sightsinger, old man,