Doggonit, pun intended

As always, summer was a blur. I feel like I spent most of it running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Amidst all the commotion, I forgot to share with you all about our new dog.

Earlier this spring, we committed to buying a Red Lab puppy from one of Aaron’s coworkers. A dog is something Aaron and I both grew up with, but we were waiting for the right time to get one of our own. We kept the puppy thing a secret from our boys until the day we were scheduled to pick one out. So, in mid-June, we put the boys in the truck and told them we were driving them to a surprise. We arrived at the destination and shared the news with them as puppies greeted them outside. Hayes cried (happy tears) and Nash jumped up and down with excitement.

It’s not an easy task picking from a mob of adorable puppies, but we managed to agree on “black collar” as the newest member of our family.

A few weeks later, we were able to bring our puppy home. Naming him was quite a dilemma, but after much deliberation, family polls and some recanting of earlier decisions, we settled on the name Rudy.

Rudy is a dream. Both of my children were on the difficult side as babies, so I think God knew I needed the blessing of an easy puppy. He’s about 5 months old now, so I know we have a long way to go in the teenage puppy phase, but so far, Rudy is proving his worth. He’s not a barker, he has potty training down and he is the perfect blend of smart, playful and independent.

The intent for Rudy is to be a family companion and hunting dog. He spends most of his time at our house, but he has ventured to the farm several times and spent a lot of time doing heifer chores at my brother’s place, so he’s become fairly comfortable around cattle.

Rudy enjoys sneaking mouthfuls of calf feed and dried manure. He’s certainly not bred to be a cattle dog, but you never know what abilities he might display. Currently, our farm has a dog, Chip Dog, but he is nowhere near an expert farm dog.

Chip Dog ended up on our farm nine years ago. A high school employee we had at the time had an accidental litter of puppies when their Basset Hound had been bred by a Heeler.

If you are familiar with those two breeds, you might wonder what the heck Chip Dog looks like. He mostly resembles the Basset Hound (short legs, long body, big head), but he lacks the full capabilities of either breed. The cattle herding instincts are there, but the follow-through is not. He chases and barks at rabbits like a hound but never comes close to catching them.

Ninety percent of the time, when we need his assistance on the farm, Chip Dog does anything but help. He chases cows the wrong way, barks at things he shouldn’t and is more in the way than helpful. He is loyal and caring, as he loves my boys dearly. He knows when we are at the farm and he will wait outside my parents’ house for hours until my boys come outside.

We’ve had a lot of great farm dogs in my lifetime, so it’s hard to live up to the high bar that has been set.

I remember my first dog, Lucky. He was some kind of lab mix, and he was a great farm dog. We had him for several years before he passed away from old age.

We also had a few Heelers that were the epitome of epic farm dogs. You could send them out to gather cattle in the pasture unattended or count on them to help you correctly sort out animals in a group. They could be trusted to watch open gates by themselves, and they were amazing companions, riding in the tractors and side-by-side with Dad wherever he went. They even saved my dad a time or two from some dangerous encounters with our herd bull.

We are excited to watch Rudy grow into our family. So far, it’s been a great summer with him. He loves swimming in the lake, playing with my boys, exploring outdoor trails, riding in the side-by-side and welcoming us home with a wagging tail.

Jill is a stay-at-home mom who helps part time on her family’s 140-cow dairy farm near Forest City, Minnesota. She and her husband, Aaron, have two children: Hayes and Nash.