Cow Dog Cody

I have to brag on one of my dogs.  Cody is now over 12 years old, and no longer does the big sheep dog field trials.  But, he is the only one of our border collies that has experience with cattle, so he still does real work around the farm.  He moves the cows from pasture to pasture, and helps us when we need to pen or load them.  Cody comes by his cattle-working skills naturally.  He is a son of Juan Reyes’ good dog, Red, the first inductee into the Cattle Dog Hall of Fame, and Anna Guthrie’s Raskle.

Cody has been with me for six years now, and has taught me so many things I didn't know I didn't know about working sheep.  I have competed with him many times on sheep, but only once on cattle.  

But, Cody really earned his kibble as a cattle dog on Tuesday.  I was returning  home from sheep dog trials in Colorado.  (More on that in the next post.)  Just as dusk was turning into dark, I came down our little dirt road and saw a dark shape with a white face about a quarter mile from our gate.  I stopped and, sure enough, it was one of our cows and her calf…on the wrong side of the fence.  

Fortunately, I had cell service and called John to come and bring Cody.  In the meantime, I began pushing the reluctant cow and her calf down the fence line toward our gate.  She forced her way through the chest-high grass and brush, her calf struggling to keep up.  John and Cody came through the gate just as she reached it.  John jumped out of the mule to stop her, but she refused to turn in and continued down the fence.  We were able to shoo her calf back into the pasture, but she didn’t care, intent on going who-knows-where.  

By this time, it was pitch dark with no moon.  I sent Cody after her, but couldn’t see either of them in the tall grass and weeds beside the road.  I drove the mule down the road, but its headlights weren’t strong enough for me to see what was going on along the fence.  Cody managed to turn the cow and began pushing her back toward the gate.  Occasionally I caught a glimpse of Cody’s white tail-tip behind the dark shape of the cow.  I couldn’t see what was happening to give him commands, but just kept encouraging him to move her.  After a couple of hundred yards, he had her back at the gate, turned her in and hustled her across the pasture.  He may no longer be my number one trial dog, but, like always, he stepped up when I asked him to.  Good Boy!