Border Collies To The Rescue!

I was driving down I-5 yesterday morning, with my three border collies, Dart, Mettle, and TheBaby, when I received a phone call from my friend Merle Newton. He was in a jam. He was at the Anderson Fairgrounds giving a sheep herding demonstration for a bunch of school kids. He had the sheep, and his border collie Smarty. But Smarty had come up lame. “What am I gonna do?” Merle thought.

Just then, he had an idea. He decided to call me. I answered the phone just as I got on the freeway, “Hello!” I said. “John, this is Merle. Have you got any of your dogs with you? I need a collie fast.” Wow! I thought to myself. I wonder what this is all about. I answered, “Yes. I’ve got all three of my dogs.” Then Merle asked me if I could meet him at the Anderson Fairgrounds. “Smarty has come up lame and I need a collie fast.”

Of course, I was glad to oblige. It was one of those things like Border Collies To The Rescue! Twenty minutes later, I pulled up in front of barn 4. Merle was talking to the kids, stalling for time. I rolled down the window, “Which dog do you want Merle?” knowing that Mettle was by far the most calm and the best trained. Dart being younger, less trained, and a lot more apt to go hog wild, was not the dog I thought Merle would choose. “Give me Dart!” he shouted back. “Okay,” I said, a bit perplexed at his choice. “I hope you know what you are doing.”

There were about forty or fifty kids, about ten years of age, standing next to the four-foot high chain link fence that surrounded the arena. I walked Dart over to Merle. He had already been talking to the kids about dog years versus human years, and telling them about sheep and cattle and herding.

Major distractions were everywhere. For Dart, a dog with ADHD, this was going to be a challenge. But, Merle sent Dart out to round up the sheep. He made a beautiful outrun to the right, stopped on command, and then took a command to go left. Come-by and Away, Stop and Walk-Up, Dart’s timing was perfect. In 30 seconds, he had the sheep penned. It was fantastic! It all started with a phone call driving down the road, and then to a covered arena where we were herding sheep for a bunch of school children.

After the sheep were penned, Merle said to the kids, “Now kids! Dart does like applause!” All the kids began clapping and cheering, and that is when the fun began. Dart raced over to the fence, all the way to one end of the line-up of kids, and then trotted down the entire line while all the kids reached over the fence to touch him. He was grinning from ear to ear. I swear, I think I saw him “high fiving” the whole bunch. Then, he turned around and went back the other way, high fiving all the cheering kids! What a card! It was the funniest thing. All the adults were laughing hysterically, but the kids and Dart really had fun.

Merle had two more shows to do, and Dart hung around for both. The same thing happened in the next two shows: a perfect pen, and then a race down the line of kids, high fiving all the way. He showed them that he could speak on command, and shake hands if asked. The kids loved him, and more importantly, he loved the kids.

Oh, and then there was my little girl Mettle. She is very shy. She was extremely reluctant to get out of the car with all the strange little people. But, within no time, she was laying on the ground with the kids. There were always eight or ten children petting her. Mettle was just grinning from ear to ear with all the attention. She is still trying to learn to trust people, and this turned out perfect. She just loved it!

As 1:00 PM rolled around, Merle put his sheep away, loaded up Smarty and got ready to go home. Mettle, Dart and I got into the car, along with my older border collie The Baby, and got back on the freeway. What a serendipity. Right out of the blue, “Hey John, I need a border collie fast! You don’t happen to have one with you do you?” What are the odds?