Brian's new cow dog

There are a ton of dogs here on the ranch, and they are by far, some of the hardest workers here. The cow hand who has a good trained dog, (or three), has a significant advantage in getting his corner of the field cleared long before the guy without a cow dog (Brian).

Although Knuckle has the heart to go all day in the heat and run down the cows, she just doesn't really have it in her after the first hour or so. She's a great partner for me, for long walks down the dirt road, but chasing cows for 10 miles....not so much.

Enter Sue. Brian put the word out several weeks ago that he'd like a cow dog. Not only for work here on the ranch, but he's been thinking that a good endurance dog like that would make a great mountain biking partner too. We'd had a few leads on some dogs that were possibilities, then this week, Sue came home with us. She's actually been on the ranch for several months with Roy, one of the single cowboys living at upper clover. She originally came from a ranch in Oregon.

Roy had 4 dogs including Sue. She's only 7 months, and really isn't yet trained to work the cows. Roy decided he wasn't a good fit for her though, because she was too friendly....he wanted more of a working dog with a different temperament. So now she's ours.

Our dog Knuckle has created some very clear boundaries for her, and took a while to adjust. But at this point, it looks like they'll get along well. Sue is very small compared to Knuckle, and will grow a little still, but not much. Yesterday, when I walked home from Midas (about 6 miles, at 3 in the afternoon (around 90 degrees)....the difference between the two dogs was obvious. We started with Knuckle leading the way, and Sue followed her every move, even turning around to check on me every 20 feet or so. Every time we were near the creek, Knuckle would walk through it drinking constantly while Sue would just go lay down in the middle of it for about 20 seconds, then get up and keep walking. By the time we got to our driveway and the last 2 miles of the walk, Knuckle was obviously tired, often walking a step behind me while Sue was still full of energy and maintaining her original pace.

Over the past 2 months of watching the other cow dogs, it has been pretty impressive how much endurance they have. It is also pretty typical for them to go lay in the water somewhere to cool off, then be ready to go strong again.

Cow dogs need to be one owner dogs....so Sue is Brian's dog. He has been taking her for walks each night, rewarding her with bacon for the commands "come", "down" (lay down-important for working the cows), and "load up" ( in the back of the truck). I stay home with Knuckle during their walk, I don't think she'd do well knowing that Sue is getting all that bacon.

The other difference between the two dogs is their relationship with food. Knuckle, like most labs, devours any food put in front of her. Sue however, nibbles, little bits at a time. She is a "self feeder", what she doesn't realize is that so is Knuckle.....if Sue's food bowl has food in it, Knuckle will feed herself!

Sue lives outside in a dog crate....she won't be the family dog that knuckle is because that will undermine her training and value as a cow dog. (Whew, there is enough dog hair to deal with as it is). She's pretty sweet though, and comes and lays at Brian's feet when there are a lot of people around.

Not much else going on at the moment. Brian finished training today as a volunteer firefighter, we have picture of a good sized bull snake on the back porch of the cook house, and we are now

in "scorpion" season....its just getting really hot so we're seeing a batch of new critters.

In the kitchen, I made butter this week, or actually, the food processor did: fresh cream from the new dairy cow, and 25 minutes spinning in the processor. I'm actually not that impressed with the flavor....I guess I'm just used to Tillamook butter!

This last picture is from yesterday morning at sunrise.....