Soapweed's Ranch
Ramblings |
We have a dog that is a German Shepherd-Rottweiler cross. She is almost a year
old now, and actually belongs to our sixteen-year-old daughter. This dog is
big and friendly, goes by the name of "Scarlet O'hara" and her best quality
(as far as I am concerned) is that she has no grand illusions that she is a "cow-dog." This
morning Scarlet caught a rabbit, and she was pretty proud.
This reminds me of a female gold-colored mutt that we had during the 1970's.
She was a good sort of friendly character, and also was discouraged from doing
any sort of cattle work. But alas, she did like to go along when we worked cattle
horseback. She always stayed at least one hill back, out of "pedigree-reading
range." Every spring we had a thirty mile two-day cattle drive to summer pasture.
Old "Rebel" always followed along on the first day, and we would take her home
in the pickup that evening. The next day, we would haul fresh horses but would
just leave the dog home.
Rebel chased rabbits all her life, but could never catch one. On one of these
cattle drives, she lucked out and caught a young rabbit. She caught it just before
we crossed a major highway with our herd of cattle. She proudly carried the rabbit
in her teeth so that people in vehicles waiting for the livestock to cross could
see her abilities. She carried the long-eared prize for another quarter of a
mile before becoming tired of the extra load. Eventually she dug a hole and buried
her treasure. At the end of the day, we loaded some of the horses and the dog
and returned home for the night. The next day we loaded fresh horses to continue
the cattle drive, but left the dog home.
The following May, the cattle drive scene was re-enacted. Rebel came along as
usual. When we reached the spot where her year-old treasure was buried, amazingly
she sniffed around and dug up the rabbit. We were all duly impressed.
Copyright © 2005 Steve
Moreland
All Rights Reserved