“And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
“And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field…..” Gen. 2:19-20
Adam worked within the parameters provided him. The story is told, as the animals were created, two stood out to be closest to man; the dog and the cat. They would live in man’s home. They would eat from man’s table and they would even sleep with man.
As it is with all creations near and dear to man, each vied for man’s favor. At that time, animals had voices and spoke. Cat, however, seldom spoke and when it did, it acted somewhat aloof and even snobbish. For that reason, the cat was given a much smaller brain. After all, the cat did not need to communicate with man except to complain. Man had more than enough work without having another complainer.
Now, smaller brains meant some important, endearing qualities had to be eliminated. Smaller brains could not be packed with the right stuff. Smaller brains also meant the cat’s speaking abilities would be severely reduced. Cats would have to make do with simple meows, screeching and purrs.
Dogs, on the other hand, had larger brains and could voice their opinions to man. Very seldom complaining, dogs were given more abilities as well. Dogs could work and serve man. Dogs could help with every task in man’s life. Dogs could help with chores. Dogs could run and carry loads. Dogs could gratefully love their life of service. Most of all, dogs could appreciate their homes and could help protect and defend those homes.
To many of man’s associates, dogs were very explicit in their communication skills. Snarls, barking, using their noses to define friend or foe, but most favorable to man was the dog’s ability to work and perform duties as defined by man. Man could communicate using any language or sound. The dog would interpret and perform duties in accordance with the man’s desires.
Truly, dogs were man’s best friend.
Among dogs, a pecking order also appeared based upon abilities and use of the larger brain. Some dogs could pull great loads. Some dogs could smell scents better than virtually any other creature of God’s creation. Some dogs could defend hearth and home better. And, some dogs could herd.
This article is dedicated to the dogs that herd. These dogs are the real working dogs. They run much like other athletes in the dog world, but they do more than just run. Given a work problem, the herding dog defines the problem, assesses the problem, and solves the problem. The larger brain of the dog allows all of the above to occur in a micro second.
Cows, sheep, pigs, geese, ducks, llamas, camels and even horses are found the world over most often in herds. Various breeds of herding dogs developed based upon their talents to work with the animals in their lives.
In my life, all dogs are great. I’ve never met a dog I didn’t like and fortunately liked me. Many of my readers and friends know that my favorite dog is a working dog; more specifically, the border collie. Because they are the “brainiacs” of the canine world, they are most often seen in agility competition winner’s circles. The border collie can examine a problem, assess the problem in depth, determine a solution and translate the problem into mechanical action on their feet.
There is one small problem, however, the border collie often assesses the problem so fast that the man is left out of the equation. Give a border collie a task and get out of the way. Border collies are not for micro-managers. The joy of watching border collies work is closely akin to watching a group of young children playing “organized soccer.” The soccer ball is the object of the quest and the children are the border collies.
Border collies need space to vent their energy. They are runners and need a challenge every day. The greater the challenge, the greater the enjoyment of watching them work.
Going back to the beginning of this article, when animals could speak to man, dogs communicated in complete thoughts. Because of this ability, God gave the dog a greater share of the communicative skill potential. Fortunately, many members of the canine world can yet communicate intelligently with man. Command a dog to perform a specific duty, the dog when trained, will perform that duty regardless of language. Canines recognize speech patterns and sounds and turn those sounds into action.
Border collies want more; need more. Give the border collie a command, most of them want to know what the end game is. Some observers have indicated they, the border collie, often over-analyze a problem. As a result, they can feign another element of independence and trot off to do a much more complex problem. Such actions tend to give the border collie a lower obedience mark. In actuality it is the person requesting specific action who has the lower obedience mark.
Give a cat a command, it yawns, looks longingly at you as if to say, “Do what! Man, do it yourself,” or “Why? This cushion is warm and soft. When do I get to eat?” much like truculent children. Yes, cats can be affectionate and cuddly. Cats do purr when touched, but just don’t require them to do anything close to work.
Run scared, yes. Cats can move in short bursts in random ways to avoid perceived danger. Sometimes a cat looks oddly like a whirling dervish moving every way at once until it sees an opening to escape a perceived danger or work.
Not long ago, I witnessed the speed and herding abilities of our border collie against some feral felines that adopted shelter under the Arctic entry of our home. Sophie, our female border collie, could see the cats moving in and out. The border collie genes kicked in and she assessed the situation. She knew the entire problem and how to encourage them to find somewhere else to go to the bathroom. The cats often used our back porch or the bed of my pick-up truck as their litter box.
Sophie’s fenced-in dog run is bordered on one side of our Arctic entry “bridge.” The other side is fenced off. Sophie assessed how to herd the cats and how to keep them at bey just by viewing their actions from inside our home. She had assessed the problem and worked out a strategy to chase them away. Then the fun began.
One day, it appeared the cats were taunting Sophie. She’d had enough and prepared to execute her plan. It was pure beauty to behold. Her mind was churning and her eyes flashed. Her head bobbed in the window and her feet started to dance. She’d created not only a plan, but how to execute it as well.
Cats are naturally agile, but they’d never met a determined border collie, especially a border collie who had already figured out the rules of the game and was willing to teach those cats how to play by her rules.
In Alaska we get snow occasionally. There was an inch or so of new snow on the already packed snow in the dog run. Sophie asked to go out to take care of some hygiene issues. As she stepped on the back porch, the feral cats realized they had just used up another of their nine lives and could not assess fast enough where they needed to go to get away.
Sophie’s reflexes are super fast as well. She already knew where the cats would go. The race was on. Realizing their chosen paths were only playing into Sophie’s plan, the cats tried to jettison their original thoughts and no doubt more lives. The heat of the moment was apparent. The cats screeched and legs went every direction at the same time. Some leaped straight up about 6 feet or darted to the side. With momentum vertical cats could not go any direction but down. Try as the leapers flapped their legs, they could not fly. Gravity interceded. Down they came.
Sophie moved to guard any other escape path except the one she wanted them to go. They took the opening and all ran for cover. Sophie 1, Cats 0.
She has convinced the local cats that any attempt at going contrary to her wishes is futile. They can run, but they cannot hide.
No doubt, God smiled that day and enjoyed the show put on by His amazing creation, the faithful dog.
