Git Along, L'il Dogies!

"Whoopee ti yi yo" was the cowboy's spurring call to his cattle as they traveled along the many trails that headed out from Texas to the northern and western markets. Traveling on horseback, the cowboys drove herds of 500 to 5,000 of the huge longhorn cattle they called a bit sarcastically and affectionately "little dogies." As you listen to this song, imagine the cowboy riding along the trail, his hat "throwed back" on his head, the jingle of his spurs keeping rhythm to his prairie tune and that familiar holler to his cattle - "Git Along, Little Dogies!" Yee haw!
Cowpunching Along the Chisholm Trail
Cowboys used the term "dogies" to describe calves whose mothers had died or who had become separated from them. It grew into a warily affectionate word for the animals being herded.
The cowboy moved easily in the saddle, hat thrown comfortably back on his head, attuned to the rhythmic motion of his horse and the sound from his one extravagance, his fancy jingle-bobbed spurs. Song was a necessity to his daily life, keeping him company during long dusty days and cold sleepless nights. It kept him in touch with other cowboys' whereabouts as they ran with a stampede. It soothed the nervous herds, making a protective blanket of familiar sounds against disturbing night noises. There's a tale about a cowboy playing his fiddle on night guard followed around by an old blue steer who shadowed him till the tunes stopped.
Cowpunchers singing to "little dogies" were crooning to some of the largest, fiercest, most dangerous animals in the land. Unlike today's quiet, fat, slow moving cattle, Texas longhorns, some weighing over a thousand pounds, had tough, sharp hooves, brutally pointed horns and a fighting spirit. They knew how to use these natural weapons and could ably protect themselves from lobo wolves and grizzlies. Nervous animals, light sleepers, spooked by any sudden or mysterious noise or movement, they were calmed by the sound of a familiar human voice.
"Git Along, Little Dogies" is sung at a fast tempo, matching the pace of the horse on the trail. This quick tempo helped quicken the pace of the herd. The song dates from the 1880's, a tie when Wyoming, Montana and Idaho began to be centers of the cattle industry. The herds were driven from their Texas birthplace to summer grazing grounds or ranches in Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, and as far north as the plains of Canada. The cattle fattened up on the grasses, prickly pear and cholla cactus. When the "dogies" reached the cattle towns built along the railroad lines, they were sold at markets. The cattle which would cost three dollars a head in southern Texas could fetch thirty dollars a head in a northern or western market. After the cattle were sold off, they were loaded onto railroad cars and sent to Chicago or other eastern markets to sell as beef. In the song, the cowboy knows that these dogies are going to end up as stew beef.
Sometimes the cattle were then taken to Idaho and sold to the government as food for Plains Indians who were forced to live on reservations. When the Plains Indians roamed free, they hunted and ate buffalo. Forced to live on reservations, they could no longer do this and were dependent on the government for their food supply.
On the trail, cowboys worked hard to keep these creatures moving and under control. Longhorns, naturally wild, nearly as fast as a deer and much stronger, preferred deep thickets or brush. They usually started off at a run and kept that pace steadily day and night until tiring. Then they would settle down to a slower pace. They would want to stop right where they were or get in a "horn-tossin' mood," restless and difficult, and decide to travel at night. The cowboys' job was to keep them all headed in the right direction. Songs helped.
Bibliography
Dobie, J. Frank, Up the Trail from Texas. New York: Random House, 1955.
Felton, Harold W., Cowboy Jamboree: Western Songs and Lore, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951.
Granfield, Linda, Cowboy: An Album. New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1994.
Krull, Kathleen, Gonna Sing My Head Off!, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Lomax, Alan, The Folk Songs of North America, Doubleday, New York, 1960.
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Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Songs of the Wild West, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991.
Sackett, S. J., Cowboys and the Songs They Sang, William R. Scott, Inc., New York, 1967.
Copyright 1994 William and Lisa Liu. The video may be used for educational purposes with credit given to Sing an American Story; written permission would be nice. Any other use of the video must be requested by email to [e-mail].