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Dear
SPCA people,
We live
rurally North of Kimbolton and run a beef and cattle farm, we
did have two working dogs, unfortunately they didn't get along so
one of them had to change farms. Our remaining dog kept on working,
BUT...........well.........he wouldn't mind company, he felt
lonely, which caused him to wander off to a neighbour's
"dairy farm" several kms away, across the river for "a fun day
out and chat with the neighbour's dogs.
This
wasn't a big deal, except the fact that we had to pick him up from
there several times.
Finally
the idea of a second in charge dog started coming up in my mind,
not in the mind of of everybody here on the farm.
Checking
the local SPCA page regularly my attention was drawn to a picture
of a dog called "Tip". I printed it out and one or two days later
I showed it to my friend ( and farm owner), well he didn't want to
admit it, but he was also taken by the "sad" look of the dog staring
into the camera.
Of
course I had already called the Feilding SPCA to get an idea about
the size and temperament of the dog, which simply ended in the
fact..........he's cute...likeable..... ..irresistible.. and about
knee-high, no there wasn't anything mentioned about him being able
to work as a "sheep and cattle dog", a fact which I wisely didn't
mention to my friend. I Simply reminding him that he had another
working dog Shad that had started his life and career as a pet in
town.
So........on our next trip to town we passed the SPCA, me having
in mind "picking up a new dog", my friend having in mind "having a
look", saying: "What if the dog doesn't get along with us, with
Shad or won't work.. etc.?"
Well........we showed up at SPCA, met Tip and it seems I wasn't
the only one who'd been taken by his charm. I heard my friend
saying:" We once had a dog similar looking to Tip, we once had a
dog, which had the same name............!" Well.... half an hour
later Tip came HOME with us.
OK none
of us would call him a -serious working dog-, his first days he
wasn't sure whether the orphan calves in the
paddock behind the house were friends or just big beasts, guess
he'd never seen animals like this before. Sheep were another
strange encounter of the third kind for little "Tip".
But he
finally decided he likes them and he loves seeing them moving when
chasing them up and down and around the paddocks, noticing that
running around and barking like a lunatic causes this reaction to
the cattle and sheep.
We now
call him the "assistant" of our head working dog, Tip is fast, but
due to the fact he is smaller he simply can't keep up with his
"master" dog, he runs some meters behind him when shifting
the stock, BUT his voices makes up for having short legs, our head
dog is a more quiet kind of worker, he goes well with all the
commands, but avoids barking too often.
"Tip"
doesn't care much for any commands, he simply follows his "master"
dog and barks, they are a pretty odd couple, but make things work
on the farm.
Some
weeks ago drafting sheep, moving them into the sheep yards,
tagging calves, drenching cattle etc. we've were surprised how
fearless our new "worker" is, he'd been amongst the sheep and
cattle inside the yards and couldn't stop barking until we had to
tell him off. Of course this helped quite a bit moving all the
stock into the right pens. Our head dogs never enters any of the
yards or pens........he never did and he never will......it sounds
strange but he hates it being anywhere inside there, he loves
moving the stock on the farm........but he dislikes being
"amongst" any of the stock.
So both
dogs get along perfectly they help each other and make quite a
unique team.
And it
seems we are ALL pleased about the "new worker", humans and
animals up here on the farm are taken by his "noisy and nosy
charm"!!!!!!
Andrew &
Gabriele
This is the
picture of Tip that caught everyone's eye
And these are
some of Tip now
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