Schotzi's Toys

In December, I got a fantastic Christmas present: a new border collie puppy. (eeeEEE!) My hubby and I went to check out the litter of pups that some people had, and they had two left. We knew someone else who wanted a puppy too, so we took them both. The other folks just wanted their dog as a pet, so before we decided which one to keep, we spent a couple of days with both of the pups. I had learned some things about picking out a good (read: smart, loyal, cattle-minded, instinctual) border collie puppy, and for those couple of days, the pups didn't know it but they were auditioning.

I clapped my hands at them, turned them over, looked at the roof of their mouths, went on walks with them, played with them ... it was basically a three-day job interview for them. As you would expect, Big A wanted to keep one dog and I wanted to keep the other. And also as you would expect, I won. :)

So, me and Schotzi have been doing some early puppy training. Mind you, I'm still constantly watching her, looking for hints about her future skills as a cattle dog. And she is showing some great potential. We go on walks almost daily, we play, and she goes with me whenever I go help out on the farm. This past weekend, the weather was gorgeous, so I grabbed my chainsaw and my dog, and went to help my dad cut some firewood.

Schotzi was bounding around the field having a great time, not fazed at all by the chainsaw noise (which is another good thing), and was adventurously meandering around but not roaming too far (which is yet another good thing). We had been there for about 30 minutes when the very curious and friendly young heifers who live in that field came to investigate the hubbub we were making.

Because she's too young yet, Schotzi has not been formally introduced to cattle. But as soon as she saw the approaching heifers, she immediately locked on target, like a missile launcher. All at once, she was rock still and all business. The heifers walked closer as a cluster, until one brave one broke out from the group and walked up to sniff Schotzi out, nose-to-nose. Too bad Schotzi wasn't interested in making friends. As soon as the one separated herself out a couple of steps, Schotzi's herding instinct kicked in. She got behind the heifer and started chasing her around the truck! We tried calling her off, but she was focused entirely on her 'job'. It wasn't until I literally caught her in mid stride that she quit running after the heifer! And she is FAST for a little black-and-white!

At the same time that I was telling her 'No', inside I was glowing. Ha! Another very big positive! Some border collies just don't 'have any cow in them' which means they can sometimes be scared of cattle or don't have any natural interest in them. This would be a very bad thing for Schotzi's future if she didn't have any cow in her. However, this accidental encounter was proof that we aren't going to have any trouble with that.

Not wanting her to get hurt playing with her new 'toys', we put her in the truck until the heifers wandered out of eyesight over the hill again. But even when she couldn't get to 'em, she was still vigilant. I think the caption for this one would be something like:

Until we meet again, my friends.
or
You may have won the day. But before the war is over, you will do as I command.


Ha. Get 'em, Schotz.