Of Cows, Squirrels and a Brainless Dog

 

A couple of days ago, Gary and I moved the beef herd back into the above field.  It's good for Gary to have them close, so  he doesn't have to be on the road taking hay to them, and he can just walk across the back here to give them feed.  This cuts down on easy long walks for Bella and I though, because it the only flat place on the top of this ridge where I can walk without going up and down difficult hills.  So now I occasionally take Bella out to the dormant big fenced in garden to run some, when I am not up for a longer walk down to the creek bottoms.  I walk around and around in there and let her sniff in the rodent holes and runs in the weeds along the fence.  When the cows and calves are out there though, she assumes the above stance at the fence, ever alert to their presence, and is interested in nothing else.

The calves are not used to her, so they will stand fascinated, just watching her.  All bovines are possessed of a large curiosity, so they will advance a step at a time, sniffing and tossing their heads.  Bella will wait and watch, quite stiff-legged for as long as she can stand it, then she will suddenly bounce and booff at them, and maybe make a short run up and down the fence.  On this particular occasion above, when she bounced and booffed the calves all took off, kicking their heels, with their tails hiked up in the air.  Of course they didn't return, because the cows were further off in the field.  

Now, when the older cows are close to the fence, they will play games with Bella; they will often run and bounce themselves, then come back for another stare down.  There are one or two of the more assertive cows that will make lunges towards Bella on the other side of the fence.  At which point, if they get too serious about it, I take the dog and vamoose, as it were.  These are hefty animals and if they get aggressive enough, or defensive enough of their calves, no barbed wire, or even cow panels, are going to keep them from breaking through.  

The cows, calves and even the bull, are all quite tame and pose no threat to me were I to decide to go walking out there in the field with them to get my steps in.  However, due to Bella's herding instinct and complete lack of any sort of training or discipline, I can't take her along for walks in that field when they are in there  because she would be an idiot and chase the calves all over kingdom come.  She has absolutely no recall and turns into this brainless fool when she finds something to chase.  

Bella does the exact same thing when chasing squirrels.  She will see one run up a tree and will follow it along from tree to tree, determined to chase it to the end of the earth if she could; running round and round the tree.  Then if it holes up and she sees another squirrel further off into the woods she will take out after that one and keep going.  I'll give up trying to catch her, go back to the house and wait.  Sometimes it takes her ten minutes to give up, sometimes she is gone for 30 minutes to an hour, but she eventually tires out and comes back to the house.  Bella the Brainless Wonder.