Mystery!

One of my favorite types of books to read is a mystery.  I am always trying to test my IQ against the author’s in figuring out “who done it” without waiting for all the clues to unfold.  I just finished a book that was a “mystery” after the book was written, printed, and read by a  Berks County 4-H leader who taught my daughter, Emilie, all about sheep.  Roger Bowman, who shared his knowledge on raising the wooly additions to our farm, became an owner of one of our Border Collie puppies after we convinced him that he wouldn’t know how he worked sheep before owning a herding dog.  Mac has become Roger’s partner for the past six years, moving sheep up and down hills on his Berks county farm.

Since the book was about Border Collies, Roger dropped  it off at my office with a note saying he was returning it to me, and thanks for letting him read it.  And while I had always wanted to read this book, it was never mine to lend out.  I called Roger and said he would have to keep looking for the true owner, but I would love to borrow it until he solved the question of who Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men by Donald McCaig belonged to.

A few years back, I had read McCaig’s Nop’s Trials about a Border Collie and his challenging life.  It was a wonderful book, written from the canine protagonist’s perspective.  It was a believable and memorable story.  And now I had the unexpected treat of reading another of McCaig’s books.  I had intended to buy it or borrow it from the library numerous times, but just never acted on my intentions.  Now, all I had to do was find some time during the busy summer to pour through the pages of this inviting book.

It took me a few weeks to finish the book, stealing some spare time away from the daily farm chores and work-related reading to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to Scotland where McCaig’s book was inspired.  His 212 pages of recollections about his experiences “searching through Scotland for a Border Collie” introduced me to some of the famous breeders and handlers whose names I had read on pedigrees in the past.  And while the focus of McCaig’s search was through traveling to sheep dog trials, his words found their way into my mind as I recalled all of the trials and errors I had made in simply training our Border Collies to herd beef cattle on our farm.
 
In talking about his original Border Collie, Pip, McCaig said: “At eight years old, Pip was getting past it.  The dog who’d once been too quick needed cunning to catch young ewes.  The dog who’d jumped every fence on the farm now waited patiently for me to open gates for him.  Me, I’d got older and just wiser enough so it hurt.  I’d made stupid, willful mistakes training Pip and my blunders showed ever time Pip ran out on the trial field.  Because I’d urgently wanted control of a keen young dog, I’d downed him each time I was unsure and destroyed his natural rhythm, created that clappiness that upset the sheep.  I’d trained his flanks (“Go right, go left”) in a big field without sheep.   Consequently, now, when I asked him to make a “blind” outrun --- no sheep in sight --- he wouldn’t:  He circles my legs, anger and confusion warring in his brown eyes.”

I look at my own eight year old Border Collie, Tri Boy (named for his marking where tan highlights his traditional black and white coat) and wonder if he might have been an “eminent dog” as described in McCaig’s book under someone else’s handling.  An atypical Border Collie, Tri weighs in at more than 80 pounds, and easily controls our Hereford cows by his sheer size.  He grew into his desire to herd at age four, and has simply become my right-hand dog when it comes to moving cows over the past four years.  He is steady, balances the cows well, and moves up slowly to keep calves from crashing through fences.  He gets the job done for us here at Deitschland Farm.  I suppose that qualifies for eminent in my book even though he isn’t perfect.

After finishing Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men, I understand that even the best dogs and most dangerously skillful handlers have bad days.  Despite their mistakes, these dogs and men understand this special partnership must be based on mutual respect and not punishment or dominance.  Answering the question, why do Border Collie’s work for men, McCaig explains:  “For four hundred years, sheepdogs have been bred for a complex set of skills and desires.  Inept dogs were put down.  Thus genetically, most sheepdogs have a rough idea what to do.  The trainer refines that idea and explores, with the dog, some of life’s contradictions.  The dog must be instantly biddable but be able to think for himself. … The good working collie uses reason to support his faith.  The trial dog needs great courage (how would you like to do the most difficult bits of your daily work before two thousand knowledgeable spectators?); a temperament that can handle stress, and finally, style.  When an eminent dog joins a dangerous man, they can create a performance that is, by either standard --- dog’s or man’s --- beautiful.

“That’s why the dogs do it:  because it’s beautiful.  When a sheepdog meets a man able to help him create beauty, the dog will put up with almost anything.  It’s sad when eminent dogs are given shoddy goods … to work with.”

One Scottish trainer in McCaig’s book, Geogg Billingham, stated “You can’t be a dog trainer until you’ve had regrets.  Sometimes I think most of it is regrets.”  He was referring to Tweed, a brilliant dog he had lost because he hadn’t had time to have him vaccinated, had worked the dog hard in a blizzard finding sheep, and had gotten him to a veterinarian too late to save the dog.  “I sometimes think … when I’m on my deathbed … they’ll come back.  All the dogs I’ve trained will come filing by.”

For me, the list of Border Collies I’ve trained is a short one.  Bonnie, Tri Boy, Nellie, Pennie and Bart.  None of them have experienced the stress of a sheep trial, but each one is talented and used for specific jobs on the farm.  Their most stressful experiences are controlling the urge to enter pastures on their own to do what comes naturally.  Sometimes they forget themselves and duck under the fence without command, only to be quickly called back for their independent thinking.  While I will never be considered “dangerous,” I am consistent in my rules for when and when not to herd cattle!  I am sure they mutter under their breath when their “fun” is cut short, but that is all part of the partnership.  It works well for us.  And my “eminent” herders understand that their talents will be required another day when cattle need to be moved and they get the command to “go under” the fence.  It will be beautiful to behold ---a Border Collie gift to the farm and farmer --- as they float out to drive the Herefords ahead of them until they hear “that’ll do” and their work is finished once again.

In finishing his book, McCaig says:  “If this has persuaded you to buy a Border Collie for a pet, I have done you and your dog a disservice.  If you don’t have work for a Border collie, or time to train it properly, your bright young Border Collie will invent his own work, and chances are you won’t like it.  There are dozens of dog breeds bred to be good pets.  If a pet is what you seek, you should choose among them.”

In the end, McCaig found a female Scottish Border Collie, Gael, to bring home to his sheep farm in Virginia, and Roger Bowman solved the mystery and found the true owner of the borrowed book, a happy ending for all. 
 
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