We have been without our beloved farm dog long enough.

A weasel did damage in the chicken house. Possums attacked a farm kitten. Raccoons have delighted in our ear corn. Critters have been moving in to badger us and our belongings.

Enough is enough!

Our farm dog aggressively controlled the assaults from the wildlife for many years. Since he died, we have been made all to aware of the need to look to the future. How can we combat the onslaught of unwanted animals helping themselves to our food and our space on the farm?  It became clear, that we needed a new farm dog.

We watched the newspaper want ads, checked Craig’s list, and spread the word by mouth in order to find a new dog.  We finally made contact with a family on a farm not far from our own.  They had a litter of four blue heeler/border collie pups for sale.  (The Blue Heeler is also known as Australian Shepherd.)  We went to see them two days ago.  

The pups were basically white with black markings.  One male had one large black spot surrounding each eye and a clear white spot on the top of his head.  We chose him.  The coat on his back was not pure white, but had a lot of black hair mixed with the white. 

It took a few of days for us to settle on a name for him. His four white feet covered with black “freckle-type” spots coupled with the dusty blanket-look on his back, prompted us to call him, “Dusty”.

Dusty is full of puppy-energy.  So now comes the task of training him. My husband works with him the most.  On the farm, we need a work dog.  He will learn to shepherd the cattle with my husband.  We expect Dusty to be an asset to our farm.  We hope his energy gets channeled in the right places around here.

For the dog-lover, we have a card in our store.  It is titled, “Faithful Farm Dog.”  This card captures the image of the dear dog we lost.  His name was Samson.

If you have interest in an Australian Shepherds you might check out one interesting place that raises them.  

photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar Silva playing with a carpet via photopin (license)