Dogs
Sharon February 19th, 2009
We lost Rufus, our older American Working Farmcollie the other day. He was an unusually large dog for his breed – much bigger than either parent, and the vet suspects that he had a hidden heart defect that sometimes affects large dogs. He was fine in the morning, but began to decline rapidly in the afternoon, could barely walk into the house, and by the time Eric got him to the vet, he was gone. We miss him.
His half-sister, our other dog, Mistress Quickly, really misses him – the two of them have been inseperable since the day we brought her home. We called them the “doofi” (plural of doofus, although they are actually terribly smart dogs) because they came through every door together, no matter how badly the fit or how long it took to get both furry bodies through. She was his miniature twin – he was huge, she was on the small side for a farmcollie, and they were a unit. Now she’s bereft.
Rufus’s great moment of heroism happened when he was a puppy – I was 8 months pregnant with Isaiah when 3 1/2 year old Eli took off running towards the road. I couldn’t catch him with my huge belly – and Rufus interposed his body between Eli and the cars. He was fearless – he ran off the coyotes and the foxes, and once what we suspect, from the sound, was a bobcat. As a puppy, he killed a racoon after our chickens that was bigger than he was – and when it tried to escape up a tree, he went up the tree after it. We’re going to miss him.
But I think we’re not going to be able to wait and grieve too long to get another dog – Quickly is simply too heartbroken, and while I doubt another dog could take his place, getting her a companion is a priority. And discussing the subject with the kids distracts them from their loss. So I suspect that despite Eric and my inclination to wait, we’re going to look for a dog fairly soon.
Which brings us to a set of questions. What breed or mix of breeds? Adult or puppy? Shelter dog, rescue group or breeder? What do we want from a dog? For us, whatever we choose, it has to serve some larger purpose as well as provide all the wonderful things that dogs do – company, pleasure. On a working farm, all creatures great and small are part of the whole.
We’re still sorting out what we want. The boys want a corgi, mostly, I think because of Tasha Tudor 
. I actually have a real fondness for corgyn, having known several wonderful ones. We talk about a livestock guardian dog, maybe a Pyr, but I’m more interested, at this stage, in a family dog. Most of our animals are down by the house, and I don’t know how well an LGD would do bonded to the family.
We could seek out another farmcollie – they are wonderful dogs, bred to recreate the old working farm dogs that could herd, guard the family and handle predators. But somehow while I can face the idea of another dog, the idea of another AWF seems like a betrayal of Rufus.
It has to be a dog that can handle farm life – we can’t keep an animal who will kill poultry or chase the goats and sheep. For this reason (and the four small kids) I’m a little reluctant to adopt an older dog, since you don’t know what their prior experience has been. Too bad – I actually like settled down older dogs better than puppies (not that puppies aren’t cute, but I’m still housebreaking my kids ).
We’ve talked in the past about bonding a dog to Eli, also, to help keep him safe on the property. A lab or a mix might be just the right dog for that. Or maybe there’s a better breed, one that could serve some farm purposes, and also free range a little with the kids.
And then there are aesthetics – the dogs of my early childhood were all big – owned by family members and friends they were shepherd and wolfhound mixes. I’m partial to big dogs, despite the disadvantages of a dog that can look your kid in the eye – or down on them, despite the shorter lifespans. The kids, I think, would prefer a smaller dog, one that felt like a dog at heel even to them, and Eric sort of agrees. We do need something big enough not to be prey for the coyotes, at a minimum, though, and one suited to covering some ground on a farm.
We’re still mulling over what we might need or want in a dog. I certainly would welcome suggestions and advice as we make this transition, for which we were not ready.
Sharon
- dogs
- Comments(70)
Get a mix with some border collie for smarts, and german shepherd or labrador retriever for loyalty. I vote for a shelter puppy, so the critter gets used to Eli and the other dogs. Mistress Quickly will be willing to play with a puppy; she might not accept an older dog.
Chows can be very hard to handle. My dad had a half-wolf, half chow, given to him because no one could control the animal, and my father is great with dogs. Chaco was gorgeous, with a wolfy snout and eyes, but the curly tail, spotted tongue and thick fur of the chow, and he was a one-person animal and a real alpha male. My father had to get him fixed to curb the aggressiveness, and Chaco had about 40 acres to run around on so he could vent his emotions by killing rabbits. After a tumultuous youth, he mellowed a little, and was the most protective and loyal creature imaginable. We still miss him, but he really wasn’t a family dog; he was my dad’s dog.
Sharon — I am sorry to hear about your loss. How quickly our pets become a major part of our lives.
My experience with dogs will not be helpful for the farm part. However for family dogs our Siberian Husky was incredible. He let the kids do whatever to him while protecting them and me from other dogs. They are very smart and great family dogs. Our current dog is a Shepard/Chow neutered male. He has been terrific expect for all the times he climbed the five and six foot chain link fence!! He, too, loves to chase prey but is a great family dog as well.
Best of luck in finding the dog that fits your family’s needs.
Again, I am sorry for your loss.
Don’t be so quick to discount an older dog. Many dogs in shelters and rescues come from known backgrounds! I also see animals a lot on Craigslist and Freecycle direct from the owners so you could get a lot of info and have a chance to meet the dog before taking him/her home.
Hope it all works out!
Some of the medium size terrier breeds or terrier/poodle/lab crosses might work for you too. They generally bond most closely to one or two people, but they’ve been very popular lately and so you’d have to be careful where you got him (true for most dogs). Expensive and heartbreaking hip, skin and eye problems show up with disturbing regularity in some lines. Also, I agree with AnnMarie and others that you shouldn’t discount an older dog. A lot of shelter dogs are given up precisely for the attributes you are looking for. Also many shelters have recently seen perfectly socialized dogs dropped off because their owners lost their homes and have to move into a rental situation that doesn’t allow pets. Good luck!
My heart goes out to you and your family, though nothing I can say will fill the holes left in your hearts. I can’t, for the life of me, talk about my dogs that are gone without tearing up (and it’s been years…).
On a brighter note, I must add my two cents… I’ve had at least one dog nearly my entire life, and have developed a fondness for certain characteristics. I love big dogs, when they trip me, it needs to be at the knees or above, no ankle tripping! I also love the devotion of a lab or lab mix – they are just as much a part of your family as you are of theirs. I’ve also become partial to a certain lab-pit bull mix; before we adopted Jessi, I thought pit bulls were bully dogs that just liked to chew people up; I’ve never been more wrong in my life. Pit bulls are very smart, loyal, and love being a part of a family. I also favor a mixed breed for their genetic stability – less likely to be prone to genetic problems, hip dysplasia, early death, and other things.
Others have recommended GPs; my aunt had a very loving GP, Bobby, who would not only guard the land and his family, but would snuggle up with whoever was brave enough to lie with a dog his size. He was very loving, devoted, and protective. Also, having been a neighbor to two GPs, they can have quite the bark… all… night… long…
What ever canine finds its home under your roof will be lucky indeed.
Again, so sorry for your loss.
–Erika
Oh Sharon, I’m so sorry to read about Rufus.
We just recently got a 3 1/2 month old Labradoodle pup – Truman. My husband is quite allergic so we were looking for a poodle or a labradoodle. We would have prefered a shelter dog – but around here all the shelter dogs are pitbull mixes or rott mixes (bred in Flint for the wrong reasons). We looked at rescue dogs but were detered by the price. Truman is the largest puppy I’ve ever seen and such a sweetie. He’s bright and loving and incredibly gentle. He’s housebreaking quickly (not something I wanted to do). He’s bonding well with the family (that’s what we wanted) but he thinks he’s a lap-dog. We had a border collie mix a while back. She was a nice dog but her urge to run was just to strong. We didn’t have a fence and were right on a busy road. We ended up giving her away on petfinder to a an older couple on a farm and she’s doing well now. My folks have a boxer and he’s a great dog – scared of everything – but a real smart guy. They had an Aussie mix years ago and he was smart and sweet as well. Both the Aussie and the Boxer would chase and catch rabbits.
Wishing you the best in your dog search -
Jill
*huge hug* I’m so sorry for your loss, Sharon! Our furbabies hold such a special place in our hearts.
I have two black lab mixes and a Golden Retriever. My alpha, one of the lab mixes, who’s almost 13 now, is the sort of dog you’re describing for your son. She “adopted” my oldest son the day I brought him home (he’s 10 1/2 now) and as far as the dog is concerned, that boy is still HERS. I also concur with you about having dog-sized dogs, rather than pocket pooches. That said, though, a smallish dog-sized dog, one that won’t overwhelm the boys, is a sensible consideration. My alpha is a short, stocky Lab – if you could find a dog of similar comportment, perhaps that would be the way to go?
Best wishes, my friend, and again, my sympathies.
I didn’t see a lot of corgi enthusiasts in the responses, but we sure do like ours. He’s smart, obedient, great with kids, non-aggressive and a wonderful, playful companion for our children and guests (we run a “house of hospitality” for homeless folks). We don’t have anything to herd but he occasionally attempts to herd children and other dogs and his parents were both farm dogs used for herding cattle. He’s very friendly with other animals as well. I think your boys might be on to something.
Oh Sharon-
I’m so sorry for your loss. Loosing a pet is a heartbreaking thing, doubly so when your children are also grieving. We recently lost our beloved 5month old lab puppy to a congenital defect. I thought we would wait some time before getting a new puppy but our home is just not home without doggylove so we’re hoping to have a new pup here by summer.
We’re a purebred lab family. We’ve had three and are looking forward to number four. In my heart I would love to get rescue pups, but I’ve heard enough rough tales from friends to hold off – at the very least until the girls are quite a bit bigger. And you really can’t beat labs as family members. Sweet, loving and they’ll put up with anything – tail pulls, eye pokes, being used as an ottoman or pillow (an excellent quality to have in your dog – particularly for the 10 & under set).
-Nicole
Sharon – While I understand your concern about bringing an adult dog into the home, or your reluctance to take a chance on a mixed breed pup, I think you should reconsider.
Many rescues will work with you and let you test a dog in your home for a period of weeks to be sure it is the right match. You won’t find a breeder who will do that, by the time you learn the darling pup has too much prey drive it will no longer be an adorable (and saleable) puppy.
Also, do you really want to spend hundreds of dollars to encourage additional breeding right now? With the economy failing you will have NO problem finding a great dog who needs a new home just because his family cannot afford him. That would be the best choice from a moral and ethical perspective. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle applies to more than grocery store purchases.
Please consider if you really NEED a puppy with specific breeding for specific behaviors, or if it is just a preference. From what you wrote, it looks like a preference and not a true NEED.
Hello Sharon,
I have a couple of Pyrs, and from my experience I’d say you have no reason to be concerned about them being as much ‘people dogs’ as you’d want them to be. Mine are as bonded to me as they are to the animals. In fact most of the training procedures for Pyrs insist that you should keep them away from you because you want them to bond primarily with the animals. You can have it both ways, just depends how you socialize them.
I was mainly, though, thinking to offer you a couple other things to consider. One approach could be to start with the dog you have now and look perhaps at what traits would compliment or balance her strengths and abilities. I’m actually looking into getting a rat terrior to be my “in the barn, close to home” dog so that when the Pyrs (the ‘burly girlies’ I call them–they’re sisters) are sleeping out in a field with the calves, I have a smaller protector around the barn looking after my smaller critters. I don’t remember how I first learned about them, but came to find out that a couple of generations ago pretty much every farm had a rat terrier. They’re high energy, of course, being terriers, and very much people dogs as well. I can’t offer first hand experience, but from the research I’ve done they seem to have a lot of great ‘on the farm’ as well as ‘people’ traits.
David
My heart breaks for your family, but especially for Mistress Quickly. Keep her close and share her grief. We also lost a wonderful dog two years ago, a heroine in her own right, but that is another story (Australian Cattle Dog, awesome). The emptiness was overwhelming so we sought to find another dog within two months.
We found a puppy on-line at a rescue site (petfinder.com) and went to see her. Long story a little shorter, we left with the first puppy and her sister, border collie, siberian husky mixes (maybe some lab too).
Their relationship has brought more joy to my life and my home than I could have ever imagined. They communicate to each other all day long. We can tell when they scold, call each other for dinner, and let the other know somebody has come home. It is utterly amazing…
I often think about what would happen to one if something happened to the other. Hopefully, we have years before this becomes an issue.
Give Mistress Quickly someone new to bond with soon to somehow fill the void left by Rufus’ passing.
So sorry to hear about your loss.
My experience is that mutts make the best dogs. I have a mutt that I got from the rescue, and she is the sweetest dog ever. She has some lab, and probably a bunch of other stuff in her.
Lots of my friends have dogs, and I always seem to like the mutts the best.
Very sorry to hear about Rufus, Sharon. We have two terriers – a Fox terrier X and a Jack Russell – both adult adoptions, and although we love them dearly, I would say you should probably steer clear of terriers in Eli’s case especially, as when younger, they were both extremely excitable and prone to madness
They are both terrific little hunters of small creatures – their snake-kill ratio is 100% (we live in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, on a fairly large block and near a wetland reserve, and we get tiger snakes and copperheads, which don’t last more than 5 minutes when Basil the foxy X sees them), they have kept the rodents well away from our compost (partly by eating them!) and no rabbits dare venture near my baby lettuces and carrots 
In terms of other stuff, they are surprisingly useful guard dogs – will bark only at strangers approaching the home (not at people they know) and sound very fearsome, and if a stranger enters the yard unaccompanied by a family member, they’ll both harry and nip. They are brilliant and very protective with our kids now, although it did take some time and careful socialisation. But they don’t have the patience or self-control to be good with people who behave in unexpected ways, and they are not especially reliable in their general behaviour. I would never use them as working dogs of any kind.
Sorry to hear about Rufus.
I have a mutt — I think he is a beagle/Vizsla/pointer mix, probably other things in there as well, and he is the best dog in the world. He loves everyone in our family, is smart, easy to train, and seems to realize what we want him to do before we even teach him. Downside is that with all that hunting dog in him, he has a high prey drive so I don’t know I’d totally trust him around chickens, and he needs a lot of exercise what with the pointer or viszla genes. He doesn’t bark except to let me know if someone comes into the yard, and he is devoted to the kids.
My friend has a lab/Bernese Mountain Dog mix and he is probably the smartest dog I have ever seen. Sweet-tempered, smart, and mellow. Bernese Mountain Dogs are supposed to be very smart and good farm dogs. Their downside is they have very short lifespans, like many of the giant breeds.
I’ll second what Green Brigade said about looking for a service dog specificly for Eli, and if that doesn’t work out, what Arthur said about the washed-out Guide Dogs, who would probably be fairly easy to retrain for Eli. I’m sure if you talked with them a bit, they’d be able to help you find a suitable companion who was raised by a farm family.
I raised a Guide Dog, through 4-H and Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc., (out of San Rafael, CA) and Arco worked for 4 years as a guide (after 2 years of training) before his person passed away, and he was retired at six and we also adopted another dog, Hogan, who was washed-out at two (we never found out why, but there were two possibilities as we saw it: Hogan was such a people pleaser he might’ve walked into a street in front of traffic if commanded to, and he did have a love afair with engine fumes). He was kicked out of the program after he’d been placed with a person and two weeks before they would’ve graduated, so it was a huge surprise.
The Guide Dogs are extremely smart, have been line bred since 1942 and don’t act much like labs anymore (90% are labs now–well, in the 90s when I raised Arco, Goldens are too friendly and their strain of German Shepards has gotten to be too big), and neither of ours ever would so much as play fetch. They are trained to be water averse: we had to teach them to swim (my parents have a creek in their backyard, it was a safety issue). They stayed within 3 feet of a person for years, even with constant encouragement from us to be more liberated, it’s related to how they are trained as pups. Arco could open gates and doors with lever handles, and we never discovered a limit on how many objects he could remember the names of. He also had a sense of humor, albeit a rather low one. Arco was rabbit safe: I always had my young stock play with him. We retrained Hogan for AKC obedience competition, he did very well at that.
I could go on for pages about them (and did, I had to edit severely). Arco lived to nine and Hogan to eleven. One downside is that they were not good at being dogs: they considered themselves people and couldn’t/didn’t play like dogs. They didn’t play with my parents’ other dogs whose tenure overlaped theirs. They did play together.
I’ll speak against mixed breeds: my parents had severe health problems with one of their dogs who was a mix between a medium and large breed. Dickens was on daily pain medication from puppyhood because his joints were so mismatched. It helped, but he was always in pain, always short tempered. A lousy thing to happen to a dog who loved to hunt and run. The things he loved most hurt him the most. Mixes are the result of irresponsible owners.
So sorry to hear about Rufus. I remember you posting on a homesteading group when he did his rescue. I think you do need another farmcollie, to honor him, not to ‘replace’ him.
Diane W
I really liked your blog it will open many folks eyes on this subject. Very well written and will be looking forward to reading more in the future.
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I, too, employ a pit-bull who could be the most sensitive animal I’ve ever owned. Soon, a brand new dog breed will occur along for that media to blast, because they have done rotties and dobies in previous years. Unfortunate that media sensationalism breeds a lot inaccurate info.