The fifteen year old pick-up truck rolled into the barnyard.  The owner got out.  He was here to look at (check out the quality of) cow hay we had for sale. As I stepped onto the front porch to go to the barn to meet with the man, around the edge of the cab of his truck emerged an impressive dog head, checking out who was approaching.  I greeted the man and immediately asked if the dog was friendly.  He said, “Oh yes, as long as you don’t try to get into the truck he will be fine.”  So I walked around to the rear of the truck where one of the most impressive animals I’ve ever seen greeted me with a self disciplined demeanor, undermined by his wagging tail.

We talked about the dog for about fifteen minutes while I checked him out, looked at the hay and arranged a time for the man to return with a trailer for his hay. 

When he returned for the hay I noted with pleasure the dog was in the back of the pick-up. I approached and greeted him and he seemed no more or less glad to see me than before.  I was further impressed by his conscious choice to refrain from an undignified greeting which I would have welcomed.  Our meet-and-greets were on his terms.  I followed his cues.  He was fully in charge of the situation.  He commanded respect from those who would consciously seek to perceive his greatness.  I have suspicions, of how he might greet others who would not.  I suspect they typically did not approach him.

That day was a turning point for me in my comprehension of what might be possible to “cultivate” in my breeding program in the way of traits in my dogs.  I began to measure all dogs against this one specimen.  He was as close to the perfect farm dog as I could imagine at the time.  He pressed me to think about temperament and how we, as humans, each have our preferences in that trait. 

His versatility as a farm dog was almost unbelievable.  His owner claimed, and I have no reason to refute his claim, that the dog could lay in the yard with chickens about and never touch one of them.  He could find kittens in the barn and leave them alone.  He could cut calves from their mothers, and drive them wherever he was told and usually didn’t need to be told

He would never get out of the truck unless he was told he could.  The man discovered this when he left the dog in the back of the truck by accident on a cold night with no bed. He could catch a hog and hold him down by the nose.  He was never intimidated by a bull.  But he had one fault.  He could not track a deer so he was pretty much useless as a hunting dog.  He could track rabbits, but who wants to eat a wild rabbit?J

The more I thought about this dog, the more I wanted one like him.  He was so easy to live with and so functional.  He defined for me many of the traits I want in all dogs from my breeding program although I know the Bernese Mountain Dog does not possess all the working dog traits of this wonderful animal who crossed my path.  I am so blessed to have met him, though only twice.  To have been in his presence changed my expectations as a breeder and improved the quality of dogs I use for breeding and which come from my breeding program.

I have not written here of this dog’s “looks” but rather of other qualities.  In fact, his physical conformation was close to flawless as far as I could tell from a point of structural suitability for work.  Of course his muscling was smooth, well developed and very hard.  He was deep in his shoulder assembly from point of shoulder to a line drawn from the withers to ground with forelegs set up under himself rather than in front of his withers. This is a trait I covet.  His angles of scapula/humerus, pelvis/femur, stifle/tibia matched in such a well-balanced way that he could stand no way but four-square.  On his second visit I asked the man to let him get out of the truck so I could observe him.  Each foot purposefully touched and pushed off the ground with no wasted action.  And as I expected, his back was parallel with the ground and seemed suspended from above as he covered the ground effortlessly.

He was a generic dog of mixed parentage, short haired and brindled.  He had an impressive head, which, likely resembled all those who had gone before in his heritage could they be known.  I thought it a head like no other specific breed.  I liked that trait in him just as I like that trait in a Bernese Mountain Dog.  Had I been able to drape him in a Berner’s coat, he’d have been the most beautiful animal imaginable to me.

I have no idea of his name or what became of him, other than the influence his being has had on my life.  He deserves remembrance and mention.

 Back to Addressing The Whole Dog

Bark at the owner: pioneer@twlakes.net