Cow dogs are a breed all their own.
Sure, I know there are different kinds – heelers, border collies, Catahoula, Hangin' Tree, shags, etc. But bloodline is irrelevant when it comes to a true stock dog.
A cow dog will follow you everywhere. A stock dog will save your skin – and embarrass you.
Our first dog technically wasn’t ours. Jessie belonged to a good friend who couldn’t keep him at his house, so he lived with us. Jessie loved everyone and truly was the best dog. We didn’t have cows at the time, but he loved to wrangle the horses in the morning, and he’d help with anything and everything you asked of him. He did have a propensity to retrieve, even though he was a border collie. This is how we met our neighbors.
I wish I could say Jessie got out of the yard to just say hello, but he brought us home a gift from the neighbors one time – a giant stuffed animal. We took it back, embarrassed. They said their son had tossed it out a window, so not to worry.
The next gift Jessie brought us explained the first a bit more: a bong. Friends, I was young and naïve. What a weird kazoo, I thought. Fortunately, I didn’t try to play it, and my hubby knew what it was. (Not that he’d ever owned one!) Apparently, Jessie had opened up the stuffed animal, and it had contraband inside. This was how the neighbors found out about their son’s extracurricular activity.
Awkward.
One of our next dogs, Bailey, was as good as they come. Loyal as the sun is reliable. When she came along, we had moved and now had cattle. She loved the cows as much as she loved us. You could not get into a truck without Bailey going with you. If you weren’t careful, she’d climb on your lap while driving to get a better look out your side window.
Bailey taught our kids about ranch life. She protected the kids. There was not going to be a cow near our yard fence. No way! Don’t even think about it. But, just to make sure, Bailey would run the fenceline constantly.
Bailey would nudge the kids in whatever direction she wanted them to go. She was never mean or aggressive, she just used her nose to point them in the direction she wanted. When they went in the driveway, she lay at the end of it.
Photo provided by Marci Whitehurst.
Two of our kids loved puddles. Jumping in them, rolling through them – as long as there was water, it didn’t matter. By golly, Bailey liked this, too! Except if the kids got too rowdy, she’d try to heel them. She never hurt them or bit them, but she’d try to grab a heel if she thought things were getting out of hand.
However, the kids became invisible when cows were involved. She was the sole proprietor, protector and cattle mover. We were her ranch hands. So, we ended up getting Gus, a cute little corgi that our oldest daughter did dog obedience with for 4-H. A family dog.
Gus also took his job seriously. He followed our oldest daughter everywhere. When she rode her horse, he followed. When she was outside, there was Gus. Gus was an honorary cattle dog. Every once in a while, he’d decide he needed a little exercise and would help us move cows (at that point, the pasture moves were short), but then he’d politely decline subsequent offers.
One of Gus’s favorite pastimes was sledding. The kids would get their sleds out and Gus went wild. At first, he chased our daughter down the hill. When she offered him a ride, off he went on our daughter’s lap, zipping down the hill with the biggest smile on his face, ears flapping and tail nub wagging. He loved sledding, even into old age.
Our next cow dog was Dally. Dally made us look like amateurs. Her herding and cattle-moving abilities were innate. She needed very little training. When people asked my husband to come help move cows, they always added, “You’re bringing Dally, right?” As a joke, one time he responded with, “Would you just like to borrow the dog?”
She was so good that the only logical course of action was to have puppies out of her. Beautiful, just like their mama. We kept one for her to train, but guess what?
Her daughter is afraid of cows. No joke. She won’t go near them. Takes off for miles in the other direction if she even sees a cow. This is the dog we have now. She’s 10 years old and still hides at any cow sighting, but she loves riding in the tractor.
All these dog stories make me think about puppies, but not now. However, our neighbors just got a cow dog puppy, and he is so cute ...
