Got a Question? Ask A COWBOY POET!
February 2024
Not every cowboy works with dogs. But those who do might develop the kind of in-sync relationship with their poochy sidekicks that they have with their other, better-known four-legged coworkers. Whether they’re herding, heading, guarding…or sharing a beer at the end of a long day…some dogs just make an impression. This month, the poets reflect on the cattle dogs (and companion dogs) that have come their way, answering the question:
Who was the best canine companion you ever had the pleasure of working with?
~Crazy About Canines
Yvonne Hollenbeck:
Wrigley, our sweet border collie. We’ve always had a cattle dog but none have ever come close to being as smart or obedient as Wrigley. She’s terribly attached to my husband, and when he leaves without her, she sulks. It’s really rather funny.
bill lowman:
Great question, but a very tough one.
Both JoAnn's family and mine grew up with several special dogs. Our dads had a very good bond with them all their lives.
Our best working cow dog was Panda, a border collie-Scotch collie cross. She could double heel a cow before it fired back. If the corrals were too boggy in the spring, she would nip them on the hock just above the muck line.
But a couple little fellers ripped our hearts out when they died. The first, a small Rottweiler-beagle cross that somebody threw out over on the main county road and wandered into the ranch. We gave him a great second half.
Then there was our Duke, a registered beagle that we fell heir to because the grandkids were too small yet. He was one in ten million. No barking or digging that beagles are famous for. A neat freak, he would walk way around a mud puddle instead of straight through like most dogs. He was with us night and day—in the feeding pickup, trips to town, and even long, overnight runs to entertain at banquets. He slept with us and took noonday naps on our laps in the recliners. He developed Addison's Disease at nine years old. Our little lady local vet kept him alive and happy with us for another eighteen months. I'm not a bit ashamed to confess that we all shed tears when we lost him.
dw groethe:
I’ve never worked with dogs, doggone it!
annie mackenzie:
I could write pages upon pages about the dogs that I have been lucky enough to work with. Ever since I was a kid I have loved dogs. My dad and I were just joking the other day about my affinity for them. Once when I was real small, probably around three or four, my entire family could not find me. They searched and searched the ranch yard calling my name. They were beginning to get worried, when my mom finally realized where I was. I was curled up napping in the dog house with a litter of puppies, blissfully unaware of the chaos I had caused.
I've had two dogs I could answer this question with. One of them was a really nice female I just recently lost, Hope. I could write a great deal about her—she was incredibly smart, loyal, and hardworking. However, I think I’ll share with you the dog that started me down the trail of training border collies. He was the first dog I got that was really mine and that I raised and trained. He had a little patch of white on the end of his tail, and I very cleverly called him Tip. I bought him at an auction to help raise funds for a cousin’s medical bills. I absolutely adored him and took him everywhere with me. When I got him I was not at the ranch full time. Perhaps it was a bit silly to get a cow dog when I was doing the least amount of cow work, but I’d always wanted a dog, and I'd finally got one. Tip went with me every day, no matter what I was doing, and I taught him all sorts of tricks. He could climb fences, jump through windows, fetch, crawl, sit, rollover, or even “attack.” One trick that always got laughs was when I’d ask, “How does (insert whoever’s name) get home from the bar?” and Tip would crawl across the ground to me. That dog would go wherever and do whatever I asked of him. He’d even ride my horse with me. I often jokingly called him “the best dog in the world,” mostly just to see my brothers roll their eyes at me.
I taught Tip all those tricks just for fun, but I also gave him some “away” and “come by,” which I instilled with toys attached to a fishing rod. I would swing the toy around in either direction saying the commands for left and right. But we never really got the chance to work stock since I wasn’t home much. I sent him to a cousin to get him started. My cousin didn’t like him, I guess, and sent him to my brother. My brother couldn’t get him to listen, and Tip ended up hanging out with the hired guy Tobias. A great guy, but he didn’t work with the stock much, his main job was to irrigate and fix fence. So Tip hung out with Tobias and learned some Spanish, if nothing else. When I went back to the ranch, Tip was a year and a half old and I was worried that I’d ended up with a working border collie that didn’t work…or speak English. Thankfully, neither was true.
Tip quickly became a great cow dog and my right-hand man. I could put him behind a set of cows and he would follow them down the trail. I could then ride over the hill to look for more cattle and see if there was anything further out we’d missed. He’d hold rodear and stay down out of the way when sorting one out. One day I was out gathering a field with no one but Tip to help me. A bunch of the neighbor’s cows had crawled in, and I needed to sort them from our yearlings. Now, yearlings are not an easy creature to deal with when sorting. They don’t stay as settled as older cows and look for any excuse to bolt. I'd tried to just grab the strays and leave the younger cows. Of course, being young, they were curious and followed us as we went, and ran back in the herd. I decided to try holding everything up at the gate and then get the strays. Tip held that herd of 50 or so yearlings while I sorted out the handful of strays. He worked his tail off and never complained once about it. Then once the strays were out, I was able to send him around to where they’d leaked down the draw. I opened the gate and kept yearlings at bay while he brought the strays back to the gate.
Of course no one was around to see it—things never go that good when someone's watching. Another time, we were trailing cattle down the road to turn them out in the winter country. We have to go next to some hayfields where there is usually a fence. But they’d been doing road work and had torn the fence out to get the job done. I was able to send Tip up the side of 300 head to that hole and he held them on the road, all without stopping the lead or letting a single cow through. That day really cemented in my mind just how dang lucky I was to have that dog.
He did have one bad habit that I never was able to quite curb. He liked beer. When he was a pup, I worked for a construction crew on a remote job and we had to stay in campers on-site. Since no one was driving home, we’d sit around the fire and have a few beers at the end of the day. The guys started sharing their drinks with my puppy thinking it was funny. But as time went on, if they were slow to share, Tip would wander around the fire and knock unattended beers over to drink them. As he got older he discovered he could crack open full beers with his teeth and have his fill. Thankfully he mostly grew out of the habit. However, once in a while I’d find him with a shredded beer can in his paws and a pleased, if lopsided, look on his face.
I have already written too much, but I could write much more about Tip. He loved all of my nieces and nephews and let them drag him around, dress him up, and listen to whatever commands they gave him. He truly was a very special dog and I cried like a baby the day he died. I’ve never given another dog my heart quite as much as I gave Tip, and I think part of that’s because of how much it stung when I lost him. He truly was the best dog in the world.
dick gibford:
Well, this question certainly does not apply to all cowboys and cowgirls. So, I will answer in the best way I know how and hopefully it will enlighten. Some cowpunchers are big on using dogs, and in brush country especially the Catahoula breed of dog is popular. They are a head dog, and also some are excellent trackers. When worked in teams, they will work the country ahead and stop trotty wild cattle. They will hold them up in a tight circle and bark treed to let you know they have ’em held and are waiting for you. In my opinion, they are an invaluable asset on a rough country outfit! We used ’em here on this ranch for years, but don't bother with them anymore, as we don't run as many cattle as we used to. What the Reyes outfit does still run has gotten pretty tame by comparison to the old breed that Fred Reyes used to have. LOL! We are good with that as we ain't near as wild anymore either!
