People have asked what breed of dog I am. (Dogs don't care about that sort of thing. They just want to know what you smell like.) I have German Shepherd type markings but my colors are more vibrant than a Shepherd's, and some of the hairs on my coat are black on the top and brown or cream at the root. Also, my hind legs don't have the slope that German Shepherd's legs have, and, of course, I'm about half the size of a German Shepherd.
Some kids have asked if I'm a wolf, because of the markings on my face, but I'm not even big enough to be a wolf-dog. I do like to pounce like a coyote when I'm in a field with mice or voles or other scitterish critters.
One thing about me, put me around sheep or goats, and I know exactly what to do - collect them into a circle and bark and nip heels and act bossy until they do what I tell them. So Elaine thinks I might be a border collie or an Australian shepherd or some cross between them. Apparently, these dogs were bred more for their herding ability than their appearance, so even though most border collies are black and white, they can also be tri-colored like me.
And when I was younger, I used to nip heels, but of course I'd never do that now.
So I've been researching my ancestors. I looked on Ancestry.com to find my lineage. And, it's hard to admit, I was afraid of what I'd find. What if my relatives were all chicken thieves, or garbage scroungers, or dumb dogs??????
You see, when I was a young dog, I got thrown in jail. Through no fault of my own, I landed in the pound when I was about ten months old, and that's where my person, Elaine, found me and rescued me. My recollections from before then are sketchy.
Anyway, I looked on Ancestry.com and it turns out I come from noble stock. I'm a border collie. Most border collies are black and white, but they can also be tri-color like me. And border collies are bred for their work with sheep, and not for their looks.
Anyway, I can trace my ancestry back to Old Hemp. He was born in Cambo, Northumberland, in Great Britain in 1893 and died in 1902. He was a tri-color like me, although he was mostly black and white, and was famous for his great style herding sheep. They said he was "almost faultless. He flashed like a meteor accross the sheepdog horizon." Apparently he inherited his great sheep-herding ability from his mother Meg, who controlled the sheep with here eye. His human Adam Telfar called Old Hemp "bluidy marvellous." See, he wasn't roudy and noisy like the other sheep dogs. He was quiet. And he commanded the sheep's respect with his cool demeanor. And, like Meg, with his eye - he could control the sheep with his eye. I know what that means. When I want something and my human doesn't feel like getting it for me, I give her the eye. Sometimes it works.
Because he was so great at herding, Old Hemp sired many puppies. (He got to cat around more than most. That's a cat joke - ha ha - get it?????) And a whole lot of his progeny were champions.
In fact, twenty nine dogs won the Farmer's Championship between 1906 and 1952, and all of them descended from Old Hemp.
One of the most famous was Wiston Cap. He was only twenty-one months old when he ran in the International trials. It gives me goose bumps to think about it. The humans let loose about fifty sheep, and the dog, working solo, had to herd them a half a mile and round them up into a pen. Wiston was only a teen-ager!!!! Imagine it. This trial is so demanding, that a lot of dogs would just lose it. Wiston didn't just finish the trial - he won. It's like a high school freshman quarterbacking for the New York Giants in the Superbowl.
He and his puppies went on to win tons of championships, but it didn't go to their heads. They were just working dogs doing what a dog is supposed to do. And in between championships, they had to keep track of the sheep, and the country around the English/Scottish border is RUGGED. If you don't believe me just read the Hound of the Baskervilles.
Mirk was one of Wiston's puppies. He ---- oops, my human, Elaine's back. Gotta go.
Molly signing off.
Hi Again, Guys,
So I was telling you about the border collies that I'm descended from and I got as far as Mirk, the puppy of the great Wiston Cap. Mirk was entered into a sheepherding trial, and it was so hard that none of the other dogs could finish. See, the gate to the pen was really narrow, and if you've ever worked with sheep - well - they don't cooperate all that well. So Mirk got the sheep up there - fifty sheep - and he looked them square in the eye, and - I'm not kidding - they all lined up single file and just walked into the pen. It's in the history records. You can look it up if you want.
Remember the movie "Babe"? That's where they got the idea for the movie, but Babe was a pretend story. Mirk was real.
So that's the border collie side of my family. I'm going to search the Australian shepherd side next. My human friends Bob and Joe say that I look like an Australian shepherd.
The moral for you humans and dogs out there - don't ever think you're just a mutt. Mutts are great, and everyone, dogs, humans, and even cats have a touch of divine inside of them.
Molly signing off.
