Interview with Esther McKinnon

Florida native

Q. This interview is to be used as a resource of information concerning the WEBs history and it's uses according to Southern WEB breeders and owners. Parts of your answers will be referenced in an up-coming book as well as an online web-site about the WEB.  Before we continue, do we have your permission to quote you in the said works?

A. Yes.

Q. How long have you yourself owned and or bred the WEB?

Esther:  Around seven years or so.

Q. Where and when were you born?

Esther:  I was born in St. Petersburg Florida in 1951.  I was the eight child of ten kids.

Q. Where did you grow up?

Esther:  We moved to Osteen, Florida when I was five.  It was all woods, only five families lived on Doyle rd. at that time.  We had a small farm.

Q. Are they the same today as they were as far back as you can remember?

Esther:  There are hardly any around anymore.  We couldn't get a pup out of our dog because there were no females to breed him to.

Q. Did anyone else in your family have or breed them?  What did they use them for?  Did they sell them, trade them, or give them away?

No.

Q. How long did they have/breed them?

N.A.

Q. What do you use them for? Do you or have you sold them, traded them, or given them away?

Esther:  He was a herding dog and a guard dog.  He didn’t let anyone or anything on the property that wasn’t supposed to be there.  That was his job.

Q. How were they around livestock? What types of livestock?

Esther:  He was great around the livestock.  We had cows, goats, chickens, and rabbits.  One of his jobs was to bring the cows and goats home for milking and he had no problem doing it himself, none. Then he would take them back to the field on his own.  He would get them on his own without being told.

Q. How were they around strangers?

Esther:  He didn’t like strangers.  If my Dad told him it was OK, than he was fine.

Q. How were they around strange dogs, wild dogs, or coyotes?

Esther: I don’t know.  I was too young.

Q. Were they people friendly to visitors at your home?

Esther:  Not unless my Dad said it was OK, than he was fine.

Q. Why did you have/breed them?

Esther:  For herding and guarding.

Q. How much training was involved with them? What kind of training?

Esther:  Not very much.  We used to have to raise the animals for meat and my dad did all his own butchering.  My dad used to put a steak on his nose and leave it there for to or three hours.  After that Dad would say “ It’s paid for” and the dog would eat it.  I never liked how he made him wait that long. 

One Sunday we were leaving for church and Dad said he did’nt feel so good, go on ahead.  I was next door at my brothers and I heard the dog barking nonstop.  I walked back and found my dad passed out on the front steps from his bleeding ulcer.  I ran and got my brother and they took him to Deland to the hospital.  As far as I’m concerned, that dog saved his life.  If we had been gone about three hours at church I feel he would have been dead.  When my Dad came home from the hospital, I never saw the dog that excited or lick him that much.  When we got him Dad said “ he’ll be smart and we’ll keep him or if he’s bad we’ll get rid of him.”  He showed how smart he was.

Q. How much catch work were they used for? What were they used to catch?

Esther:  None.

Q. Did you ever use them for hunting? Hunting what?

Esther:  No. 

Q. What do you and others you know do with WEB culls/curs?

N/A

Q. How many WEBs did you keep at one time?

Esther:  Just one.

Q. How many have you had over the years? 

Esther:  Just one.

Q. Were they kept tied, penned, or did they have free run?

Esther:  He was free roam unless someone came up,  than Dad put him in a fence.

Q. Did they typically bark a lot?

Esther:  No.

Q. How long did they live on average?

Esther:  The neighbors put glass in ground beef and killed him.  They did’nt like him because they would trespass and he would run them off.  He was about seven or eight when he died I guess.

Q. How old was the oldest one you remember?

N/A

Q. How big were they, male and female?

Esther:  Something around eighty or so pounds.

Q. How do they differ from ABs?

Esther:  I couldn't say,  I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.

Q. Describe a WEB.

Esther:  Short and stocky, kind of square  headed.  Cool and very smart.  To this day I feel he saved my dad’s life.

Q. Where did they come from?

Esther:  No idea.

Q. Where are they found?

Esther:  No idea.

Q.How effective of a guard dog were they?

Esther:  Excellent.

Q. Why are they so hard to find today? Do you think it is because of farms disappearing and subdivisions popping up?

Esther:  I think so.

Q. Were they common long ago? How long ago?

Esther:  No.

Q. What did other people use them for?

N/A

Q. Did they have an on and off switch?

Esther:  Definitely, or else he would’nt have sat with a steak on his nose.  Would you.

Q. Do you remember any specific events about a WEB that stands out in your mind?

Esther:  I would lay on the dairy cows back when she was laying down and suck my thumb.  When it was time for the cow to go back to the field he would gently drag me off the cow by the ankle.  I would go in the house and he would take the cow back to field. My dad didn't get home until 5 p.m. and Mom worked 3 to 11, so they would do the chores after work.  He counted on the WEB to bring the cows back to be milked, and he did every day.  As a special treat, Dad would give him the foam from the top of the milk as a treat.