Elk Herding

So, my exotic dog breed of the month I just highlighted was a reindeer herder. Well, did you also know that Border Collies have history herding reindeer and elk too??

I discovered recently a website for a ranch in Alberta, Canada whose top dog was a border collie named Whip. Whip is actually an uncle of my Scott. Small world huh? Whip apparently worked all stock you can imagine up in Canada, from your standard sheep, cows and ducks to horses, ostriches, elk and reindeer! http://www.bergenranch.com/Dogs.htm

Whip and Scott do look similar; they have super thick long hair and similar builds. They appear to have the same "pushiness" as well, being able to work just about anything you ask them to. I seriously think this elk-herding thing runs in the family.

We have an elk herd that comes through our neighborhood all the time. While I know better than to "work them," I do utilize Scott to push them off my property every once in a while. They eat my bird seed, rip off branches from young trees, decimated my veggie garden last year, and create holes in our yard (they can weigh 800lbs or so!). There is one elk, in particular, I've named Gertie. She is collared and she is the least weary of people and dogs. I am certain it was Gertie who walked up onto our front porch this Spring and ate my potted plants!

So, here is Scott. This is the look I get when he knows there is something up that he wants to be a part of. It's his "poker face" if you will - I can totally see right through it. Alright Scotty, you wanna go out and see the elk?? I already know the answer to that question.

The elk. All cows and some calves. They're slightly ticked off that I'm out there with Scott. Two are nervous in this photo, one is not. Can you tell which one hasn't figured it out yet?

I will not let my dog herd the elk, especially in someone else's yard. So, Scott was told to "lie down" in the street while I took photos of him with the herd. Some of the cows are quite bothered with Scott's presence, so they headed back into the woods right away. Others, stuck around, including Gertie and her buddies who were on the other side of the neighbor's driveway.

"Scott, they're almost all gone now." The very first time Scott saw the elk last year he barked and growled at them. Then he realized, "hey, these things are like wild cows. I think I like that." Again, just want to state that I don't herd the elk with Scott. I will, if in my yard, have Scott walk up on the elk to move them back into the woods. You never know if the cows, or sometimes the young bulls we also have come around, will charge your dog or you!

And there's Gertie and her "clique." While her two girlfriends took off, Gertie stuck around until the end. She should be our neighborhood mascot I guess.

Here is Scott walking back to the house after his day of elk herding. A job well done Scotty!

Mattie thinks Scott is da bomb when it comes to herding. However, she isn't so thrilled about getting sniffed on camera...

Exotic Dog Breed of the Month

Did you know there are reindeer herding dogs that come from Scandinavia and Russia? This month, I want to highlight the Lapland Herder, a dog from Finland. Note: this is not the same breed as the somewhat more popular Finnish Lapphund or Swedish Lapphund.

I think this is a pretty good looking dog! More information can also be found here: http://koti.mbnet.fi/tuulen/poro21.htm

Here is the information...

Also called the Lapinporokoira, the Lapland Reindeer Dog, the Lapland Sheepdog, the Lapponian Herder, the Lapponian Shepherd, the Lapponian Vallhund or the Lapsk Vallhund, this breed is known colloquially as the Lappy.

This is an "improved" reindeer-herder, created in southern Finland by deliberate crossings to combine the hardiness of the northern, cold-country spitz breeds with the highly developed herding abilities of European sheepdog breeds. This was achieved by arranging matings between the Finnish Lapphund, the German Shepherd Dog and working Collies, creating a "Nordic herder" capable of working in freezing conditions, but with the advanced manoeuvring skills of the typical sheepdog. It is said to be capable of covering 60 miles in a day, and it is often claimed that 'one of these dogs is worth five men'.

This carefully planned breed has the erect, pricked ears of its spitz ancestor, but the less stocky body, the longer legs and head, and the uncurled tail of its sheepdog ancestor. Its low-hanging tail, in particular, sets it apart from the other northen dogs.

The introduction of the motorized snowmobile in the 20th century resulted in a sudden modernatization of reindeer-herding techniques and rendered the Lapland Herder almost obsolete. Its numbers fell rapidly and there was a serious risk of it becoming extinct, but in the 1960's the chairan of the Finnish Kennel Club began a salvage operation and in 1966 it was given an official breed standard. By the end of the 1960's, the population of these dogs had risen to five times the figure for the start of that decade.

An interesting breeding system was devised for the working dogs. In the north the stockworkers kept only males. In the south, the breeders kept females. Each year the best males would be brought south to mate and the best male puppies would then be taken north again for future reindeer duties. Surplus puppies would be sold off as pets.

Color forms include white with dark shading; black body with tan extremities, and black.

This is not a bath towel!

This is NOT a Bath Towel!

Don't step on it!

RIP George

George "Cartman" Thorpe

199? - 2009

May your grass grow lush and green
and your string be plentiful.

My beloved cat George passed away on October 2, 2009. He was between 15 and 18 years old. I adopted George as an adult cat from the Seattle Animal Shelter in 2002. George was everything I was looking for in my first cat - orange, fluffy, male, neutered, adult, and litter box trained. I saw George on the shelter's online listing of available pets and called the shelter right away to see if he was still available as I figured he was a very desirable type of cat. I was told that yes he was there but he was only available for foster as he had a severe URI (upper respiratory infection) and that he was crashing and they would likely euthanize him the next day. I rushed into Seattle and without even seeing him, was handed a kitty crate with him inside by a staff member and given his paperwork for fostering. I would not be able to formally adopt George until he was healthy. I got home, opened up the crate George cautiously crept out into the living room.

George was my first cat, so not only was I going into new territory with a species I didn't know much about, it was a new species that was terribly, terribly sick. I quickly learned how to medicate a cat and feed a sick cat back to health.

George became healthy and he became mine. After he was fully recovered from the URI, I took him to a cat clinic for a full teeth cleaning as his teeth were very messed up. He had to have 3 extractions and it was found he also had some broken teeth too. I was beginning to wonder if George was older than the 8 years the shelter had listed him as.

I began to learn more about cats in general and what made George the cat so special. I found that he had an addiction to string - obsessing over to eat it like spaghetti. He wasn't a catnip type of cat but found Friskies Treats and Whisker Lickin's to be the best things on the planet. He would meow heartily for his treats in a "feed me now" demanding tone. I loved it.

George's shelter paperwork indicated that he shouldn't go to a home that had kids, dogs or other cats. This was all fine back in 2002 - I had no other animals and George was king of the castle. In 2003 I got married and George got a new last name. George knew Jerill but when Jerill didn't leave the house anymore, George would just stare as me with that look of "Who is this guy?"

And then in November 2003, Lucky the Maltese Shih Tzu puppy came home. George was pissed, without a doubt he was pissed off at me, Jerill and the new puppy. But it wasn't like he was trying to kill the puppy, nor did he act out by being a bad cat. He just continued to have a pissed off look on his face. I learned quickly that while George could tolerate other animals in the house, he truly hated all living creatures except for me. George and I had a special bond and would have conversations regularly in the morning as I got ready for work.

After Lucky came GiGi the kitten. We had tried fostering a boy kitten prior to GiGi but George was not fond of him at all (I got that boy kitten adopted to a coworker and he ended up being called Spike and now weighs 15lbs or so - Maine Coon!). George took to GiGi instantly. They would sit on the stairs and clean each other and cuddle. I credit George for making GiGi such a wonderful cat today- she never claws or scratches us, she does not scratch furniture and she has very good house manners.

After GiGi came a few foster dogs over the winters - one of those fosters in particular we ended up keeping (that would be Mattie). We now had four animals in one small, yardless condo. George was king of the upstairs and the dogs were relegated to the downstairs. In 2006, we moved to larger home and I could tell George loved his new home - lots of windows and sunlight to lie in.

George had a few close calls in his life, one being the String Incident of 2004. George had eaten a yard length of 1/4 inch velvet material. Of course we didn't know this until he became violently ill and x-rays confirmed he had a blockage. We elected to have the vet go ahead with surgery to remove the super-string. He recovered quickly from the surgery and our house then became a "string free zone."

Since the string incident, George led a peaceful life, spending his days curled up in the laundry basket, on my computer chair or on our bed.

In the last couple months of George's life, he began to lose interest in eating Friskies Treats, then began to lose interest in eating kibble. He stopped cleaning himself up. He started losing weight. He began sleeping in different places in the house - not hiding but just sleeping in different places. He would always greet me on the stairs when I'd come home from work and would appear fine but I realize now he was just acting because he didn't want to leave the house and go to the vet. In the last weeks he no longer wanted to eat wheat grass. I knew then something was terribly wrong. On September 30, 2009, a trip to the vet and a blood and urine test revealed that George's kidneys were failing him, among other smaller problems he also had like tumors and lung problems. Jerill and I realized that George was no longer enjoying his life and we did not want him to be in pain or feel "hung over" anymore from the toxins his kidneys and liver were not able to process and elminate. George was humanely euthanized in Snoqualmie, WA in the morning hours of October 2, 2009.

I always thought my kitty would live forever. I think everyone thinks this about their favorite cat or dog. Although George's memory will live forever, and I'm sure his orange buff colored hair will forever be on our fleece coats, I am deeply saddened that he will no longer be in my life in the physical sense. George lived a rich, full, life and his first 8-10 years of life will always remain a mystery to us. I do feel that George's time with me and my family - 7+ years - was exactly what he wanted in life. George was a full time indoor kitty who was free to do as he pleased as long as he was okay with getting squeezed every once in awhile.

We elected to have a personal cremation for George, meaning we will receive an urn with his ashes therein. George will rest upon a windowsill forever in the sunshine, away from the dogs, just as he lived his life with us.

I miss you George.