July 22, 2017 10:00 pm Central Time.
I just googled to see what I might find about a song called Old Blue, and discovered this site and Old Blue Thread.
When I was a little boy in the 1930s in Texas, my older brothers taught me the only version of the song that I had heard of till now.
Before I was born in 1931, my family had 'followed the crops' from the Texas gulf coast into lower Oklahoma in 1926,27,28 & 29, picking cotton, etc., to survive. I was told that they learned this simple song from other field hands. In reading all the posts in this thread, I saw bits of 'our' version in different posted versions. Here is the one I sing:

Evey evening just about dark
You can hear Old Blue for he begins to bark
Here, Blue, you rascal you, here Blue

And then one day Old Blue took sick
We called the doctor come here quick
Here, Blue, you rascal you, here Blue

The doctor came and he came on a run
He said Old Blue your hunting's all done
Here, Blue, you rascal you, here Blue

Old Blue he died and he died so hard
That he dug little holes all over the yard
Here, Blue, you rascal you, here Blue

I dug his grave with a silver spade
And I let him down on a golden chain
Here, Blue, you rascal you, here Blue

Now Blue's in Heaven wearin' a golden crown
And I'm down here goin' 'round and 'round
Here, Blue, you rascal you, here Blue