JR Bar Ranch, Ismay, Montana presents:
TRUE BLUE HEELERS ! ! !
First of all, let me introduce our Cattle Dog employees on the Ranch:
I'll start with Ready. I don't know why, but I just will.
This is Ready. In this photo she is about three months old. Talk about big ears! When I first brought her home, she was seven weeks old. Her ears were still in the 'down' position. Then one day a couple of weeks later, they just popped up! They sure looked a lot larger up than down!
Not long after that, I was walking with Ready at the county fair in Miles City when a lady stopped me and told me that, "Those ears are way too big! Are you sure that is a Red Heeler?" I told her, "Well, yes, she is a Red Heeler, and as far as her ears go, I don't care how big they are, as long as she chases the cows where I want them to go."
I have to admit my feelings (and Ready's too) were a little hurt, but oh well.
What do you think? Let's conduct a survey. We invite you to answer this question in the Guest Book at the end of this website. And please be honest. This is something I am curious about. Thank you.
Allow me to introduce our other Cattle Dog Apprentice: Autry
Jim was listening to the radio call-in ads one morning and heard of a lady who had a litter of Blue Heeler puppies that she was giving away. Jim called her up, went over and picked out Autry to come home to live (and work) with us. She is about four months old in this picture. So far she is showing very good promise of cow-chasing abilities. (Now if we can get her to stop chasing that stud-colt!)
Of course you all know that a man on a horse with one or two 45-pound Cattle Dogs can do the work of ten men on horses and/or four-wheelers when it comes to rounding up cows!!! Why, I can stay home and sleep in or sew on quilts and let Jim, Copper (our cow-horse) and Blue and/or Scoobie bring in the herd. One morning I got up out of bed and told Jim, "Well, let's go get those cows: I feel like a nice horse-back ride on this fine day!" Jim said, "Sorry, me and Blue and 'The Doob' already got 'em. We were up at first light." That's another thing, dogs are ready, willing and able at all hours of the day or night to do just about anything and to go anywhere.
On another day, Jim and Snoopy (his favorite cow-horse), and Blue and Doob were headin' out to round up a bunch of cows for branding. They stopped at the creek to talk to some neighbors who were doing some fishing. "Hey, where're you going with them dogs?" one of the guys asked. "Out to get the cows, whaddya think?" The neighbors just laughed as Jim, et. al. scrambled through the water and up the steep bank on the other side of O'Fallon Creek. Half hour or so later, here they all come: Jim, Scoobie, Blue, Snoopy and about 75 cows, back down the bank, throught the water and up the other side. Jim waved to the neighbors. "Well, it makes a difference if you have a good dog," they said.
I don't know about the good dog part. Blue Heelers can be some of the baddest dogs I've had. Let's take Blue, for example:
Blue is probably the smartest dog I've ever known, also the stubbornest. In fact, I believe he has a degree in human psychology. What a con artist. From the day he met Jim, he had Jim wrapped around his little toe. And just about the time that Blue makes you so mad you could just about choke him, he does something so funny that it makes you laugh and laugh. Blue has more joie de vivre than any other living being I have met. It's always 200% with him. He doesn't just jump off the deck - he leaps off; he doesn't just get into the truck - he flies into the back of the pickup from 20 feet away! At first we were a little concerned about the way he handled the cows. (Cannon-Ball Blue was his nick-name.) He loved chasing cows since he first saw them at age 12 weeks! And he did so with abandon. He was like a cue ball - he'd run into the herd, and cows would scatter in every direction. Fortunately, he has toned down a bit and now drives the cows in the direction we want them to go. And he has learned that if he doesn't do it our way, he doesn't get to do it at all (well, most of the time). What a dog! Gotta love him!
At last we come to Scoobie
Well, Scoobie wasn't always the extraordinary cow dog that she is today. When she was a youngster, she wouldn't chase cows when we were around, I guess because she thought she was in trouble for doing it. I didn't think she had it in her. We tried to think of a way that we could "give her away to a good home" as a pet. But that wouldn't work, she was just too mean-spirited to anyone but us. And we just didn't have the heart to "knock her in the head" as some old-timers put it.
Then I started noticing that she would go off behind the barn and work the cows when she thought we weren't watching. She became quite expert at it, calmly moving the cows from one end of the corral, through the gate, then back again, once or twice a day. I thought to myself, "I'll just hide in the chicken coup, look out the window and tell her what a good dog she is for doing this." Wasn't too long before she figured out that it was okay to work, to do the very thing she was bred to do. Every new cow or bull we brought home was dog-trained by Scoobie. I am always impressed by her poise and easy approach.
Well, now you've been introduced. Please go on to the next pages for more Cattle Dog stories and information.