Naomi made arrangements to meet with Dr Phylis Canion, a much publicised Texas Blue Dog researcher. Our plans were to eat dinner and then go over to her house. I found Phylis to be the quintessential professional. She is a nutrition consultant who has a clinic in Victoria and in Cuero, TX. She and her husband own a large ranch south of Cuero. We exchanged greetings and stories during dinner and I found her to be charming. She told us her story of how in 2007 three creatures had been killed in her area within a few hours. She told us that she would let us see the carcass. We were excited. At the end of our dinner she called over some young boys who seemed to treat her like Santa Claus. She talked about having them over to see the creature. It seemed all too cryptic to us and we did not quite understand what she was referring too. Little did we know.
After dinner we drove out to her spread. She welcomed us into her home, which looked more like a museum for the various animals she and her husband had hunted throughout their 30-year marriage. She had bobcats, zebras, antelope, deer, and …… a Texas Blue Dog? What?!
There it was: a canine mount with blue eyes! Lest you think that the taxidermist was being creative, Phylis showed us pictures of the animal, and it indeed had blue eyes. This creature was incredible. Its skin was very smooth with sparse hair that looked more like a bald man’s head than a canine’s coat. I looked closely at its skintone. It was coloured mostly charcoal grey with some reddish marbling. There were curious lighter random marks on its skin that appeared to be scars from possibly mesquite thorns or scraps with other animals. Its torso looked more like a deer’s in that it was very narrow. The shoulder blades and the pelvis were slight, unlike a dog’s. The most unusual feature of this animal was two circular buttocks pads approximately 2 inches in diameter and protruding approximately one inch from the leg muscle. The pad skin looked tough like elephant hide. At first I thought they were tumours but their symmetry with respect to the tail told me otherwise.
What is this animal? Are there anymore? What are these buttocks pads? What are they used for? These questions, and I am sure others, hopefully will be answered as we continue our study of this cryptid.
By the way, Naomi noticed in the Pollock Blue Dog photo that the creature in that photo appeared to have the same buttocks pads!
I see what you mean. That animal might have the same feature.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom jaw is very undershot. Or the maxilla is very overshot, either/or.
ReplyDelete