The Adventures of Max the Herd Dog

[nattybumppo]

For those of you who don't know, Max is our new border collie. He is red and white and about 1 year of age. The last care taker did not teach him a thing..like to not jump up on people and such. Max is young and excitable. His new job is to corral the goats and sheep in the barnyard so that they can learn to stay in the yard next fall/winter.

Today Max learned a valuable lesson in herding animals. And I too have thought about doing a series in church called "Lessons from the Barnyard" and with the addition of Max and he learning so much everyday, I just may do so.

Our sheep are known as Black Belly American (aka Barbadous) and the goats are pigmeys. Max for the past couple days have done his job as good as to be expected, being faced with the challanges of new critters and and new environment for himself....however....today he paid a little to much attention to one of the female ewes, nose to nose. The goats are not stupid, one of the pregnant nannies took the opportunity presented to herself and lowered her head hit Max in the rib cage and rolled him.

Max yelleped and got up and looked around then took off to one of the open dog cages. He was done for the morning, and needs to think about this for awhile while building his courage back up.

Max did learn a valuable lesson that we all should note. If we stay to focused on one particular thing, our enemy (Satan) will take whatever opportunity that we avial him to hurt us. Be vigiliant to all devices of Satan, because he will back door us at every given opportunity.

Pictures of Max can be found here:
http://malachi4-black.blogspot.com/

[patticakes]

oh, he's adorable!!! so is the dog! (sorry, couldn't resist giving you hard time)

we have a mutt that we picked up at the pound that, although being completely brown, looks very similar to Max. i wonder if she's a border collie mix (?).

congrats on the new addition.

[TCPatriot]

Border Collies are great dogs. When we were kids my aunt and uncle had one named Duke. He was one of the best dogs I've ever seen. He was an excellent herder even with chickens. My aunt would say, Duke, chickens and he would get the chickens in the chicken house every evening so she could close them in. If you were in the barn yard and would fall down or lay down he would come and stand over you and not let any of the animals come near you. And he could clear a farm fence in nothing flat. I have never seen another dog that could do that.

[Tweety]

We had a german shepard/collie that was also named Duke. Oh he was a God send. We got him young and he was always with the kids. I would always know what yard the kids were at because duke would be out lying in the front yard on guard duty. He was one handsome dog. I miss him. That was yrs ago when we were in Fla. He died of heart worms. Misquito"s are horrible in Fla.

[nattybumppo]

oh, he's adorable!!! so is the dog! (sorry, couldn't resist giving you hard time)

we have a mutt that we picked up at the pound that, although being completely brown, looks very similar to Max. i wonder if she's a border collie mix (?).

congrats on the new addition.

LOL...You know Mrs. Bumppo reads this to. :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

BTW Max came with 16 chickens (just now starting to lay), 2 young ducks and 2 young rabbits. 8)

[nattybumppo]

Border Collies are great dogs. When we were kids my aunt and uncle had one named Duke. He was one of the best dogs I've ever seen. He was an excellent herder even with chickens. My aunt would say, Duke, chickens and he would get the chickens in the chicken house every evening so she could close them in. If you were in the barn yard and would fall down or lay down he would come and stand over you and not let any of the animals come near you. And he could clear a farm fence in nothing flat. I have never seen another dog that could do that.

I too had a border collie growing up, his name....Duke.:-o

[Summerthyme]

Natty... does he have the typical Border Collie "hard eye" and sort of "slinking" herding behavior? How is he around cats/kittens/chickens?

The reason I ask, is this: The best dog I ever had was a rescue (literally.. two live pups found on the road with their dead littermates after some creep dumped them). And for the 6 years I had him, I always called him a "Red Border Collie". He was killed on our rural back road by a drunk driver three years ago in November, and I still miss him daily. (the ONLY time he ever left the farm was for a daily visit to a "friend".. the neighbor's dog who spent his life on a chain. One day, the neighbor came over, laughing so hard he could barely talk... it was winter, and "Charlie"- their dog- was inside. Neighbor heard a knock on the door, and when he opened it... no one was there. Until he looked down.. and there was Lucky. Neighbor said "he said "can Charlie come out and play?". I invited him in, but he politely declined"!! Smart dog)

Anyway... we need a farm dog, and Lucky was the only one we had when he died. So, I went looking for a replacement... and promptly discovered he wasn't a Border Collie.. he was an English Shepherd. And he was a deep, dark red like your pup, with a white collar and feet.

Our second English Shepherd, bought as a replacement... well, we call him "the Anti-Lucky"!! LOL!. He's a better herd dog than Lucky ever was, but where Lucky never, in 6 years, ever failed to respond to my call- hubby watched him perk up and head home when they were over 1/2 mile from the house one afternoon!- Bandit comes if he wants to... but a more typical reaction is a perfect canine "talk to the hand". However, he has the English Shepherd traits of being VERY gentle with babies.. he LOVES babies. ALL babies... he has to "count" each chick when they're delivered... and then keeps them from confusing me when I'm dipping beaks by herding them behind him in the corner. He's gentle with kittens, but insists on carrying them out to the lawn to "snuggle". He midwifes every calving, licking off the mouth and nose of the calf while it's being born, and then cleaning it from stem to stern when it's out.

I've had border collie crosses, Australian shepherds, blue heelers... but I've never seen a dog as reliably CAREFUL around stock as an ES. They quickly figure out how much power they need to use... he can shove a 1500# cow around, and will bloody her tail if she kicks at him... but when we're moving baby calves, he sticks his nose into their armpit and flank and NIBBLES.... tickling them into moving!

Anyway... just curious... I know there are a few rare red Borders, but I wonder if that's what you've got..

Summerthyme

[nattybumppo]

Natty... does he have the typical Border Collie "hard eye" and sort of "slinking" herding behavior? How is he around cats/kittens/chickens?

The reason I ask, is this: The best dog I ever had was a rescue (literally.. two live pups found on the road with their dead littermates after some creep dumped them). And for the 6 years I had him, I always called him a "Red Border Collie". He was killed on our rural back road by a drunk driver three years ago in November, and I still miss him daily. (the ONLY time he ever left the farm was for a daily visit to a "friend".. the neighbor's dog who spent his life on a chain. One day, the neighbor came over, laughing so hard he could barely talk... it was winter, and "Charlie"- their dog- was inside. Neighbor heard a knock on the door, and when he opened it... no one was there. Until he looked down.. and there was Lucky. Neighbor said "he said "can Charlie come out and play?". I invited him in, but he politely declined"!! Smart dog)

Anyway... we need a farm dog, and Lucky was the only one we had when he died. So, I went looking for a replacement... and promptly discovered he wasn't a Border Collie.. he was an English Shepherd. And he was a deep, dark red like your pup, with a white collar and feet.

Our second English Shepherd, bought as a replacement... well, we call him "the Anti-Lucky"!! LOL!. He's a better herd dog than Lucky ever was, but where Lucky never, in 6 years, ever failed to respond to my call- hubby watched him perk up and head home when they were over 1/2 mile from the house one afternoon!- Bandit comes if he wants to... but a more typical reaction is a perfect canine "talk to the hand". However, he has the English Shepherd traits of being VERY gentle with babies.. he LOVES babies. ALL babies... he has to "count" each chick when they're delivered... and then keeps them from confusing me when I'm dipping beaks by herding them behind him in the corner. He's gentle with kittens, but insists on carrying them out to the lawn to "snuggle". He midwifes every calving, licking off the mouth and nose of the calf while it's being born, and then cleaning it from stem to stern when it's out.

I've had border collie crosses, Australian shepherds, blue heelers... but I've never seen a dog as reliably CAREFUL around stock as an ES. They quickly figure out how much power they need to use... he can shove a 1500# cow around, and will bloody her tail if she kicks at him... but when we're moving baby calves, he sticks his nose into their armpit and flank and NIBBLES.... tickling them into moving!

Anyway... just curious... I know there are a few rare red Borders, but I wonder if that's what you've got..

Summerthyme

I know australian shepherds and had a blue heeler once. Max, last night tackeled the chickens and the ducks. Just like my border collie growing up, he wants to herd everything. So, I want to break him of tackeling the fowls, but he can herd anything he wants.

[gardengal]

Oh, Max is beautiful. Except for the color and longer fur, he looks just like our Max. Ours is black and white, same markings, but his fur is shorter. He's border collie mixed with beagle. He likes to herd the cats, which really annoys them. We have a crippled cat and every chance Max gets he washes Eric's face.

gardengal

[Limner]

Natty, tell your spousal unit I LOVE her sepection of music on her blog. I have it running as a background now.....

[nattybumppo]

Natty, tell your spousal unit I LOVE her sepection of music on her blog. I have it running as a background now.....

Yes!!! It is great to do exactly that, makes your day go better, she just has to add one more song and make it random.

[cleosbcs]

Border Collies can be trained to properly herd a lot of things. I compete on ducks and geese with my dogs and they move chickens around for me at home, besides doing sheep, goats and occasionally cattle.

[Rumpelstump]

Great dogs, but keep them occupied with stuff they enjoy, working animals.

Before when I did a lot of long distance running, the sad part of ****ty farmers mad me puke several times.

Stinky corpses (found 3) killed of boredom/neglect, chaseing cars.
Laying like a piece of black/white garbage in the gutter, the owners never bother to even look for them.

[Summerthyme]

Rumpelstump... that is sad. I can't imagine not looking for a working farm dog who disappears.

But I'll admit, while I HATE dogs which chase cars, I have a car chaser right now. We're on the third try with a shock collar for training, and he's FINALLY matured enough to respect it, and actually learn from it. However, his chasing is SO ingrained (it's genetic- I know someone who has a full litter sister, and of all her 17 dogs in the breed, she's the ONLY one which chases wheels obsessively!) that the shock collar is only a deterrent. And he's so freakin' intelligent that he KNOWS when I'm carrying the control- or if I've forgotten it!

It's very frustrating for me, because he is a working dog who WORKS... herds cows, guards, etc. It's *not* boredom. And compulsions are difficult things to break.

Summerthyme

[Rumpelstump]

You may be spot on!

But then we´re on to the genetic stuff, that make me dizzy :)

More simple to think you are nice to your dog, and it´s more careful when chaseing cars he he.

PS: all of the owners beated their dogs, tracked them down since it´s a small island.

I let the word out many years ago of my view, being so close to abuse.

Told my old aunt too!, she had a good idea of terrible animal abuse on her island (cattle) never did anything to stop it before they all perished in their own ****, stucked inside a barn.

So afraid of offending godly/powerful sh-h that never should be hunted 24h.

[Rumpelstump]

That should be hunted 24h, I mean.

Should be ashamed of themselves to make Gods cratures suffer like that.

In God´s will they suffer in a free world of their own, we take on a responsebillety when we chain them.

[Summerthyme]

I agree, Rumpelstump... we are stewards of around 100 cattle, a bunch of poultry, too many cats and a very smart, VERY bullheaded dog- and one very smart, and wonderfully willing horse.

Each of them has different temperaments, needs and personalities. No, I'm not "anthromoporphizing" (giving human traits to animals- your English is amazing, but I don't want to make you look that up!).

It's wrong, on so many levels, to be cruel to any animal. But when it comes to behaviors like car chasing, the behavior itself is SO dangerous (to the animal, plus car drivers who are startled and try to evade the dog, and here we have horses and buggies going by, and a nervous horse is a REAL problem.

The shock collar is a compromise... only "corrects" him when he's actively in pursuit. We tried it the first year, and it was useless... he'd yelp, even flip over backwards- and then land on his feet and continue chasing the car or buggy! Since we've had him neutered (despite the fact that he's gorgeous, and a great working dog, I was NOT going to perpetuate the bullheaded car chasing genes!) he's been much better-not on a "hair trigger"- no longer acts before he thinks.

So... this time, the collar IS working. And he's trying so hard to be a "good" dog... it's just he thinks he has better ideas of what needs to be done than we do!

Oh.. the chasing started when I was working in my front garden by the road.. he was an adolescent pup, and obviously thought he was "protecting" me from strangers. It's a classic English Shepherd trait- they protect EVERYONE in their pack... including kittens, chicks, new calves, whatever. The funny thing is... I really don't think he'd be hit by a car. He's the only dog I've ever seen who *looks both ways* before he chases something! And if a second car is coming- either way- he simply stays where he is, lurking invisibly behind his pine tree, where he "ambushes the intruders" from.

If it wasn't so dangerous, it would be funny.

Summerthyme

[Rumpelstump]

Yeah!

I know this halfbreed, 20% sheepdog that died of old age chaseing cars.
He was very well treated by his owners, and even enjoyed relaxing a bit.

I do still enjoy studying a bit of etnologi(Norwegian spelling), the difference is not that great ;)

But I planned on studing zoologi/economics before i got sick.
In time it ended with a unscolared version of other areas of life.

[Rumpelstump]

After many hours rediscovering Cochise, I do understand the reasoning why I left antropologi.

It was to easy, I could hammer my teachers like Emily sometimes hammer people on this board.

I more or less felt bored/helpless, they would not understand my stand on killing Whales, within my grasp of time (20 years), so I just focused on Humans.

The most ekstreme of all of God´s creations, it do not follow instinct, but insist on free will.

Like one of my old MC friends, he had top grades(like all aces) as a 15 year old, and dropped to 0 a year later.

He has been bad to his body, and is in care for alocoholism/epilesiy.

Was perpectly healthy as young, but dived 2 times into an emty pool(broke his neck both times i think)

Life was perhaps to easy for him, he enjoyed drinking beer with valium, before he kept his promise to kick the **** out of a neverending stream of bullies.

I suppose it kept him from doing real harm to them.
Normally it just ended with him wrestling them, never hurt any of his opponents.