Sometime in the late 1950s a stray Border Collie pup showed up in Corona, New Mexico. Nobody claimed him and Alec Jenkins told Mama if the dog did not find a home it would be put down. We took it home. Daddy had a strict one dog rule. He said if you had two dogs they would tend to run around worse. We already had Junior the Wonder Dog so we could not keep the pup. A couple things happened though before the dog could be disposed of. The dog had found a sheep that was down and the ewe could not get up. If a sheep falls with its feet pointed up hill, it can not get back to its feet. The dog led Daddy to the ewe. Then on the Bluff to the south east of the house a goat had gave birth on a narrow ledge of rocks. The kids could not jump back up the high ledge to leave their birthplace. The dog heard the bleating and alerted Daddy so the kids could be saved. Daddy said we still could not keep the dog but we would find a home for him. A former Corona resident had moved to the Bayfield Colorado area. He ran his sheep up in the mountains in the summer and brought them off the hill each fall. He took the dog to see if it would work sheep for him. He liked the dog as it was easy to train and worked the herd well. He had the dog a while and one fall when he saddled up his horse and headed up the mountain to bring the sheep home for the winter, his horse returned to the barn without him. His wife knew what trail he used, but did not know where to start looking once he left the trail. A search was being organized when the dog came in to the ranch house. The dog, like Lassie in a movie, led them several miles back to the rancher. He was alive, but had suffered a heart attack. He said the dog was licking his face when he came to. The dog slept by him that night and did not leave. Mr McInnis said they would not have found him without the rescue pup that had came so close to being put down. That stray Border Collie pup grew into a great stock dog that was treasured by the McInnis Family. They loved that dog. Although this story ended in Colorado, it started with a dumped pup in New Mexico!
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 12:38:34 +0000
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