I feel redeemed…

I’ve felt bad for some time that I always keep Little Bear confined, when during the time we had a proper pack the boys charged around and did whatever they wanted. Back then, they never rarely got themselves into trouble. Now, not so much.

Landlady got herself a little ACD puppy, a cutie named Dharma. She wanted some “play date” activities, and of course right away the boys suggested a walky. Well, they never used to get themselves into trouble during walkies, so off came the leash.

Ghost and Little Bear went racing off instantly, of course, but then they always used to do that and then they’d hang around the entrance of the driveway for me to catch up. This time, no dogs. Landlady spotted a couple of cattle at the other side of the wash, and it was a fairly safe bet that’s where we’d find the dogs. When we got to where we could see the meadow with the cattle, there were my two miscreants. Deliriously happy. Chasing a calf.

Let me say in their defense that I’m sure the thought of hurting the calf never crossed either of their minds – they’re not that kind of dogs. But this is open range country, where the cattlemen have all the rights. Dogs mustn’t EVER chase calves in open range country – it’s a shooting offense, even on your own property. Fortunately it was close to Landlady’s place and we were the only people there, and even more fortunately Ghost saw me coming and remembered his manners. Little Bear, a bit less enthusiastically, came running after. And LB’s leash went right back on.

Ghost is smart enough not to get himself into trouble when he’s alone, but he has no scruples about being led into temptation. Little Bear is over three years old now, and though he’s really a very good boy he’s not excessively bright and still has a lot of impulse control issues. I feel a little less bad about keeping him cabled up.