The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog by John R. Erickson is the first book in the Hank the Cowdog series for children.
Contents
Plot
The setting is in the panhandle of Texas probably during the 1980s when the book was written. It starts off with Drover, Hank's assistant, coming to him and waking him up saying there's been a murder. They find a dead chicken and Hank says it was a 'raccoon' who did it, and he says he knows where it is. But the thing he finds in a bush is a porcupine, and later the local barncat, Pete, teases Hank for having quills in his nose. Later that day around dark, Hank assigns Drover to watch the chicken house while Hank goes on patrol. A couple hours later, Drover starts yelling that a monster is attacking, Hank comes running and attacks the 'monster' which turns out to be a cow. The next day Hank and Drover sneak a trip on the back of a truck to town. In town the two dogs anger Bruno, a large boxer. The next day back at the ranch they find another murdered chicken, and Hank can't resist eating it. He wakes up and finds out that he is in a pile of feathers, and Sally May finds him and thinks that he is the murderer, so High Loper then ties the chicken's head around Hank's neck. Hank then realizes that he has to leave the ranch. He heads out and meets two turkey vultures, Wallace and Junior, and in the end he gives them the chicken's head and they fight over it, but a hawk swoops down and grabs it. The next day Hank finds a female coyote named Girl-Who-Drinks-Blood (who he calls Missy); they become good friends but then Missy's family shows up. Hank manages to trick them into not eating him but is forced into the tribe and becomes Missy's fiancé. Her brother Scraunch has met Hank on the field of battle before. He and Hank are now deadly enemies. Hank becomes good friends with two coyote brothers named Rip and Snort, and during a night of carousing and singing with them, he runs into Drover, who says that Hank is a traitor. After a long time with the coyotes, Scraunch decides that if Hank wants to prove himself to the coyote tribe and marry Missy, he must join in for a raid on the ranch. So Scraunch, Rip, Snort, and Hank along with other coyotes raid the chicken house. But during the middle of the raid, faced with the order to kill Drover, Hank realizes that what he is doing is wrong. So Hank turns on the coyotes, and Scraunch is about to kill Hank when High Loper, who was woken up, fires his gun at the coyotes. The coyotes then run off, and all ends well with Hank back on the ranch as Head of Ranch Security.
Songs
The Coyote National Anthem