Fourth of July

In Pat’s litter, there were 6 puppies.  I had decided that I would keep a male, and named him Jack. All of the pups were nice, and very even in their personalities.  Doug and Lori McKinney had spoken for a pup early in Hannah’s pregnancy.  They got the choice of the best female and they chose Pat.  They didn’t call her Pat though…they called her Patsy.

The McKinney’s live up in tough cattle country and expect a lot from their dogs. I remember Lori telling me that Pat was a great pup, but she wasn’t really keen to work until she hit about one year of age.  Lori did the initial training on the dogs, and then Doug took over when it came time to work on the ranch.

When Pat turned two years of age, Lori called me and told me that they would sell Pat.  She was having a tough time getting Pat to learn her flanks. It was frustrating Lori, as she thought she should know them by now. She wanted to know if I wanted to buy her, and I said yes.

I got Pat right before the fourth of July.  I kept her in a kennel and all seemed to be well.  I hadn’t started working Pat, but she seemed happy and to fit in.  The fourth of July morning I went out to do dog chores and there was no Pat.   Somehow, she had escaped, most probably because of the fireworks the night before.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t put a collar on Pat with my name and phone number, she still had the McKinney’s old collar on with their information.

When I called Lori McKinney with the news of her abscence, she said that they were up in the high country.  They had an answering machine at home, but wouldn’t be able to access it from the ranch that they were at because it wasn’t equipped for touch-tone dialing, which was needed to retrieve her phone messages.  She called her mother-in-law and asked her to check the machine daily for any calls about Pat.

I searched all day, and the following day.  There was no sign of her.  She was a friendly dog, so I thought someone would pick her up.  Finally on the third day I got a call from Lori early in the morning.  Someone had called the night before and said they had Pat.  It was early, about 7 AM but I thought I would call them. No one was home, so I left a message to call me.  I waited….and waited…no call.   I called again about noon and woke someone up.  Yeah, they had a dog.  Did I want to give her up?  They would take her if I didn’t want her. 

Where Pat ended up was exactly in the opposite direction that I thought she would go.  She ended up in a trailer park about a mile away from here.  I knocked on the trailer door and a young woman came out and said that Pat was in the back of the pickup.  There she was…happy and content.  The young woman asked if when she had puppies if she could get one.  She recognized that she was a Border Collie and thought she was a great dog.  I offered her $20 for her time and trouble and she was happy to take it.  I felt no need to tell her that Pat was a valuable dog that I had paid thousands of dollars for just a couple previous days.

When I got home, I put Pat on a chain.  At the McKinney’s she was used to being chained up, so I thought this would make her comfortable.

The Partner at Home

Lambing

Lana's Pups

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