Maybe it’s because I miss my Minneapolis dog. Or maybe it’s because there’s something appealing about an animal with spunk who is living life to the fullest. Whatever the reason, I am smitten with Jessie Veeder’s dog Chug. Veeder lives on a ranch outside Watford City, North Dakota. I dropped in the other day to interview her about how oil is changing her life and to record her singing “Boomtown,” a song she wrote about things around here.

As I pulled into the driveway, a black pug mix raced beside my SUV. That’s not unusual in the country. Dogs run free and they like to chase cars and trucks. However, most ranch dogs are collies and labs and the like. Pugs are rare. What made Chug even more endearing is his missing eye. He got into it with a porcupine, got a needle stuck in his eye and had to have his eyeball removed and stitched shut. That hasn’t slowed him down one bit. He often runs over to a nearby oil rig and hangs out with the roughnecks. And then Veeder has to go looking for him. When she finds him, she lugs him into the pickup and drives home.

He stays there. For a while.