SOLVED. Book from dog's point of view- possibly set in West or South. [s]

[Jules]

This is a book that my father played for me on tape a long time ago. I cannot find the tape anywhere in my house, but I'm sure it existed. I don't remember the author or the title and neither do my parents. This is what I can recall:

The book was told from the perspective of a dog. It was set somewhere in the countryside, possibly in the western or southern US. I believe it was some sort of historical setting, i.e. not a modern-day story.
The dog was male and had another male dog who was his friend. I think that they were domestic but spent most of their time outdoors. The book was a series of adventures and mishaps; I remember vividly the narrator describing himstelf getting into some sort of trouble that left his eyelids partially stuck shut and following his friend, only able to see the friend's tail through his eyelids.
I also seem to recall that there was a scene in which the dogs go to a pit out in the forest or the prairie, where there is some sort of naturally occurring material that tastes sweet to them, in fact they might have called it the honey pit or something. They spend a good amount of time inside the pit, licking at the rocks or whatever. I think that at one point they get into a fight with another group of dogs, which I believe was led by a big bruised fighting dog who might have been white in color or was named Whitey.

I know that the book is not recent as it was on a tape and I listened to it around ten years ago.

Much love and gratitude will be sent to anyone who can help me find the name of this book, it has been driving me insane the past few weeks!

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Try this list - books from a dog's POV:

http://www.aadl.org/user/lists/12775
(2 pages)

and

http://www.whatsthatbook.com/?xq=7579

[Jules]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I have extensively googled "Dog's point of view" and I've searched pretty much every list out there.

[Kris]

"Hank the Cowdog" series by John R. Erickson?
https://www.goodreads.com/series/4151...

[Jules]

Thank you both, but no, neither of those are it.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Julian, are you still looking for this book?

[Jules]

I still have not found it as of now

[Ashley]

Not the Plague Dogs by Richard Adams by any chance?

[Ann aka Iftcan]

The Plague Dogs for Ashley's click.

[Jules]

I own a copy of the Plague Dogs and I don't think it's the one I'm looking for

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

I, Jack?

[Katharine]

Was this a book on tape your father had listened to as a child, or would it have been written within your lifetime? Was it a shorter book (like a picture book) or more of a novel?

These are OLD books (written in the 1910s-1930s) but are from a dog's POV and seem to be set in the country:
The Black-Eyed Puppy by Katharine Pyle
No-Sitch the Hound by Phil Stong
The Tale of Terrible Towser (as told by himself) by Anonymous
...I found these 3 on oldchildrensbooks.com

To widen the audience for your search, try posting your question on Yahoo! Answers, Barnes&Noble's "Lost Books" link in the Book Clubs area of their website, Askville. Also, if you haven't already, ask your local librarian to see if it rings any bells.

[Jules]

So I came back to this and did a bit more research- I think it WAS Hank the Cowdog all along! Thank you all so much!

[Kris]

Julian, glad you found your book! Thanks for giving us an update.