Farm Fresh Blog

The rancher next door came over this morning to borrow a dog box so he could make a road trip to purchase a new finished cow dog. ($$$ Wow! Finished cow dogs are big bucks! Undoubtedly worth it, but nevertheless, big bucks.)

Anyway, he made the funniest observation this morning:

"Trace is kinda creepy, isn't he?"

Ya think.

Since he isn't privy to Troll Dog's real personality, I was curious as to how he came to this conclusion. His explanation was that Trace lurked by his fence line, peeking through the grass like a stalker (read: sniper). Trace never says anything. He just lurks and watches. Creepy?

By his standards?

Well, since he has Black Mouth Cur Dogs and an Aussie, then yes, Trace's behavior might be creepy, but to us, lurking and staring like a stalker is the very least of Trace's weird behavior. In fact, that isn't weird at all. That's just being a Border Collie. They stare. They just do. They study the world around them like Graduate Students working on a thesis - minus the drinking.

Since Trace is one of the Outside Dogs, he is either in a dog run or loose most of the time. His dog run is elevated so he can see a lot. I assure you that Trace knows exactly what time the cows settle down to chew their cud, what time the rancher's wife comes home from work, exactly how many times the sheep pooped and where, which plants are in bloom, the number of trucks that pass on the highway, how many of those are Fords, Chevys, and Dodges, and who drives them. Trace has a PhD in what goes on around here day and night. He is a Jedi Master in mind control and the art of staring at the world around him. He is - a Border Collie.

They study things, that's what they do.

There are so many other parts of Trace's personality that could be called 'creepy,' but staring is not one of them.