For The Love of Augie
By Dolores Butcher
Foot Hills Farm
No one really knows why one breed of dog becomes one’s favorite, but almost everyone has a certain breed they are drawn to, or would say, “that’s my breed”! For myself and family it has become the English Shepherd, or the dog sometimes referred to as an Old Fashioned Collie or Farm Shepherd. They seem to me to be as American as apple pie – part of the early American farm scene. They actually did come to this country with the early colonists, and were an important part of their lives. Perhaps we even took for granted they would always remain.
Only when we began our search for a good type English Shepherd did we realize how few were available. When I say good type, I don’t mean just the good looks and colors of the English Shepherd, but those special qualities that we remember in grandpa’s dog. Those qualities are good sense, grittiness, faithful companionship, protector of the family and farm. The old farm dog knew what time the cows were to be brought in, or when his “children” were due home from school.
We didn’t know about all those qualities when we purchased our first English Shepherd. We had heard good things about the breed, but they have taught us much! All we knew was we needed a farm dog to replace the Border Collie that we sold when we sold our sheep and our Australian Shepherd who jumped off our pickup just as we were stopping, and was killed.
We found a red, bob-tailed female who quickly won our hearts. She was with us for only a short time due to a problem caused by carelessness of her breeder. It was too late for us though, we were hooked on English Shepherds. We found something special in her beyond her working ability that touched us. Her faithfulness and total awareness of what was going on around her was beyond what we had known in our past experiences.
So our search began again. After many phone calls we found and bought a sable and white natural bob from Dorothy Anderson in St. Augustine, Illinois. I’m serious when I tell people that a million dollars couldn’t buy our Augie. One just doesn’t sell part of the family. Our ball of golden fur turned into a beautiful, faithful and extremely obedient companion and worker. I sometimes take him for granted until someone asks me how he knows what I am saying, and then I realize he must know the English language! Showing or telling him anything once or twice is all it seems to take for him to know what we want. This breed seems to live to please the one who owns him.
We loved Augie so much we wanted to get a female to raise some “little Augies.” The female we bought was also intelligent and a very aggressive worker and gave us some fine puppies, but accidentally hung herself while we were away. Augie was really all we needed and we almost stopped breeding, with the loss of our female.
We began to flirt with the idea of another female and the more we looked the more we realized just how difficult it was going to be to find a female with the same looks and qualities we had found in Augie. Augie had spoiled us, and we didn’t want to settle for less. We also felt a responsibility by that time to make sure this fine breed was going to continue. Again our search began, to find the best female or (females) we could find. This time our search became even more difficult than the other times.
After probably over a hundred dollars in phone calls, many many letters, and many miles on the family car, we finally have two sable and white females and a tri-color. Although Augie has been with us the longest and is number (ask Augie and he will confirm being number one), our “girls” are also so special, and we wouldn’t be able to part with them either. Each is different, but all share the excellent working ability and intelligence we found in Augie.
It always amazes me to see these dogs at six weeks old, right on the heels of the goats, wanting to work. They seem to know no fear even at an early age. Augie will be as gentle with the chickens and goats as he is aggressive with the cattle and horses, and will work anything we put him on. If a female doesn’t remember her orders to stay on the back of the truck, Augie will quickly correct her. He will put each of them down and give them the “eye”, and they will either get back on the truck or go back to the house. We never taught him this, but he seems to have an innate ability to know what is expected of him and of the other dogs. My children are always teaching him something new. I’m not sure who enjoys it more, Augie or the children.
Another quality we like about this breed is the way they wait to be told when to go to work and don’t worry or work the cattle when they are not told to do so. They are always ready to work and are excellent low heelers. Wen not needed they are quite happy to play with our children, go for a walk with someone or just lay on the porch. They love to ride the four wheelers with us over our 325 acres. They do have one fault. They don’t seem to know when they are wet from a swim in our spring fed creek and pile on the four wheelers with one of us for a ride home!
They also love to spend some of their free time at the base of a big tree worrying a squirrel. You realize how gritty these dogs are when it comes to keeping the farm clear of ground hogs, armadillos, rats, mice, and yes, skunks. One bite is usually all it takes. Nothing has ever discouraged them yet.
A favorite pastime of mine is hearing other English Shepherd owners tell me all the unusual things their dogs have done. One thing we always agree on is that only another owner of an English Shepherd would believe some of the things they do to amaze their owners. One family called from a distant state to have a dog shipped to them. They did not have a farm, but had researched the dog breeds and wanted to find the smartest breed. They had narrowed it down to two breeds and then chose the English Shepherd. From reports back on their puppy, they have found what they were looking for.
I hope some day to see these dogs being used for seeing eye dogs. I think they would be excellent. We are proud to join with other faithful English Shepherd breeders to insure that future generations of families can have the opportunity to own and love one of these hard working and faithful dogs.
