How to be a cowdog lesson One

Many of us would assume to be a cowdog would be a simple task of running the cow in the direction that you want to go and in the end result they would be where you'd wanted them. If only it was that easy!
By the time I was working cows with Sadie she had already been there and done it all. She could pin, sort, gather, and hold as well as load cows on to a trailer with out help. I, on the hand had not had as much experience with cows, I did however have the riding cowhorses down pat , just needed to add cow.
    I soon got the hang of it, Sadie and I would go out to the field of cows that needed to be moved into the adjoining field. I would work from the back end of the field and work my way up Sadie would catch the ones that decided to head in a different direction. She was a great help, however; I soon learned that I still had a lot to learn about cowdogs. Sadie had been taught by my boyfriend a cowboy( the real thing) and a Comanche Indian all in one person. So alot of his commands were his commands for her, not all but lot of them being in Comanche and no of them in the common "away to me" or "Come by" some in whistles, others I would not have even associate with a cow . I later was informed that this was done so that no one else could control this dog but him.... (great!) So learned how true this was when Sadie and I were asked to go out into some wooded area to move a group of cows out and a tried to direct Sadie into the woods, the language barrier became a BIG problem at that point my horse and I started doing alot of the work. Of course it was nothing but extraordinary to watch her work in the hands of my boyfriend even if it was in a different language it gave me the insight of how a dog and a human could work together to bring a large group of animals into the same  area. i soon learned simple commands like " go get them" to send her out after the cows, and " push them" to keep them going. but even then Sadie only listen 40 percent of the time to me. I never master her which was sad because in the beginning Sadie was supposed to be my dog. That when I decided that I real need a dog of my own that would listen to me, that's when I started shopping around for a puppy, and I found Merel.

The art of being a cowdog

As the years followed Sadie went on the work many many cows. She ended up with rather a run down body by the end of it all. By the time Sadie was 9 she had lost sight in one eye lost hearing and had a slight limp. But thru it all she would still give 110% when asked to work a cow or two.Time for a new puppy, this is where Merel comes in.
" Hi, I'm Merel I think at least that's what the keep calling me..."
Sadie " Great I've turned into a babysitter!"
Merel " so what do you do for fun around here?"
Sadie " you chase cows"
Merel "Cows what are those?"
Sadie "big animals that smell"
Merel "what do you do with them?"
Sadie "you chase them stupid!"
Merel "why?"
Sadie (sigh) "because stupid, it's fun"

Welcome to the cow life Merel

Merel and Sadie working together

In the beginig there was a dog

It all started with a Border Collie that I rescued from B C R named Sadie.  I was working a daycare at the time, so I decided that I need to leave the puppy with my boyfriend Red  who worked cows in another town during the day and spend time with her when I got back. Little did I now that this would start the beginnings of my Cowdog family.  Sadie grow to be a great cowdog even thu she was a mixed Border Collie she was quick on her feet and had a temper that would back down any size cow. From then on Sadie and Red became a know pair in the valley. Everyone know the cowboy with the Border Collie named Sadie. Later to follow the family was a large puppy name Merel at the age of 4 months old the Australian Calahula learned to work baby calves with little to no help from us. After a year we decided that we would breed Merel  to a female and sell cowdogs.  On a whim we pick up a runt of a nearby puppy whos mother was boarder collie and the father thu we had never seen him was Australian. Being a runt are hopes was that this little tea cup puppy would turn into a big furious female cowdogs......