"In the beginning"

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the blog management, (on the other hand, they are not necessarily not the views of the blog management).

No effort has been made to stay within the bounds of the truth in this blog as it has always been the view of the management that the truth should never be allowed to stand in the way of a good story.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Fun Monday Jan 7


Lisa is our host for this weeks Fun Monday, here’s da rules.

Let’s meet your pets. I think most of us have at least one pet and I would like to see your fluffy or scaly pal. If you don’t have a camera you can tell us about him/her/them. If you don’t have a pet tell us about a pet you had or a pet you want. If for some weird reason you hate all animals we want to know why gosh-dang-it.

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For anyone who is confused by all the Fun Monday stuff at the top of my sidebar;

The first dropdown list is the one prepared by Carrie Sue (thanks CS)
The one beneath it contains names that were missed in the first one.
Beneath that again is a link to all the players names that are known to me, again I would
love to hear from anyone who has been missed, or any new players who would like to
be included on it.

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While in the strict sense of the definition “Boston” was not a pet, he was a working sheep dog, he definitely had all the characteristics of a pet, he was loving, loyal, friendly, and playful (when not working) in short he was man’s best friend, here is a short excerpt about Boston from a previous post.

A farming friend who had heard some of our stories (pre motor bike) took pity on us and gave us a beautiful black Border Collie-Kelpie cross puppy, we named him Boston, (soon shortened to Boss for obvious reasons) after the serial detective Boston Blackie, Boston was introduced to sheep at a very young age which is the right thing to do with a working dog.

Boston trotted alongside the motor bike with his boundless energy, he was never at home riding on the back as some dogs are, perhaps he just didn’t trust my riding ability? he had a very competitive nature and I’m inclined to think he just wanted to be able to run free.

On a daily basis we would have a race down the driveway to the mailbox, a return trip of a bit over half a mile, if I beat him to the mailbox, as I usually did, he would stop where he was until I started back towards home then take off lickety split and with the head start often beat me home, we both enjoyed this ritual a lot, he NEVER tried to race the bike any other time only to the mailbox.

No matter the reasoning he did come to think of the Honda as his mother I believe. At a quite young age he began to question my directions to him, when I sent him around the mob of sheep in a certain direction he would sometimes look at me quizzically and proceed to head of in the opposite direction, he obviously thought he knew more about herding sheep than I did, most times he was right too the instinctive ability of these purpose bred dogs is legendary. With Boston's help Though I was learning.

There were times however that for reasons of my own I wanted to do something different to the obvious with the sheep, at times like these we would come into conflict with me yelling at him to do as he was told and him generally ignoring me.

One day after heated debate about his parentage I roared of on the Honda to do the job myself, Boston followed along and I noticed that each time I turned the bike he would automatically head there too, It didn’t take me long to figure out that if I let the Honda give him directions he followed them very well.

So was born a very good team of man, dog, and Honda, just the slightest of change in direction were noted by Boston who then interpreted them into messages to guide him in his duties, often he seemed to sense the changes perhaps by the difference in the sound of the bike as it changed direction but the visual observations were unmistakable he would pause almost as though asking a question before moving on.

Sadly I couldn't find a photo of Boston and his "Mom" but here he is regally surveying his domain.


Only slightly more in the genuine sense of a "Pet" was "STREAKY" a cat who
owned our family for a little over 13 years.
Streaky was the consummate hunter who delighted in presenting his humans
with a food offering each morning, usually a rabbit (which were a huge problem
all over Australia at the time) or that foolish "early bird" who had been careless
while looking for the worm, the least appreciated were the snakes that he
seemed specially proud of.
You might have guessed that during Streaky's stay with us we mostly lived in
the country where he honed his hunting skills.

This photo is of a very young Streaky when he first came to live with us,
if the photo looks old its because it was taken when I was about two years old,
so its........................ Bloody Old

43 comments:

Jack K. said...

The photo of Streaky reminds me a bit of our Hazel. For those who might be interested Hazel can be seen here. It is the latest photo of her. It was taken this Christmas. She is about 16 years of age and is an inside cat.

(I will try to label other posting that show Hazel.)

She knows how to treat her staff.

JunieRose2005 said...

Peter,

I enjoyed the memories and pictures of your pets.

Thanks for the sharing!


June

Jo Beaufoix said...

I loved this Peter. I can just picture Boston and the Honda guiding the sheep. My old dog Jazz looked a little like an Australian cattle dog or a kelpie and she like to herd us a little. I do miss having a dog. The cat pic is gorgeous too.

Unknown said...

I like how Boston thought the Honda was his mommy. :) Wow, can't believe you have a photo of the kitty you had as a boy! That thing is OOOOLD! ;)

Sauntering Soul said...

Awww, I love these stories (but I would be very unhappy if I was gifted with a dead snake first thing in the morning). My ex mother-in-law had two border collies. They are so smart and beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Wow, . . Mega-Post! Cat-ching my breath after that!

Alison said...

I love the story about Boston. Watching herding dogs work is beautiful. Our cats also bring in presents, but usually they are still alive and it is usually about 2 in the morning..we wake up to god awful screeching in the house and know that another live one was brought in!!

Fianna said...

Excellent stories! When I was a child, we also had a cat that liked to hunt and bring in breakfast for us every morning. Our tastes were apparently quite different, I had no use for the mice or birds.

Pamela said...

I guess streaky never got tangled up with a poisonous snake??

I love the story of Boss. There are sheep dog trials in a small town south of here every July, and a cowdog tournament on a ranch out on the river in May. I've gone to the cowdog show, but never the sheep dog. Maybe this year.

Merle said...

Hi Peter ~~ Never knew Boston much but a cute story of him and his "mother". Now Streaky, that's a different story ~ remember how he used to sit on that post and watch for us coming home from school. He movedd house with us many times but
was a lovely old cat. I have photos of him with Jack who died in 1940 and one at the top of the steps in our Dixons Creek house etc etc.
Our photos change size in our headers; nothing constant there, sometimes good and at times not.
Hope all is well with you. Cheers, Merle.

the planet of janet said...

what a great story about your dog and his "mom."

happy fun monday!

Gattina said...

I enjoyed very much reading about your shephard dog and the cat !

Anonymous said...

Wow, your family must have been rich to have a camera in those days;-). There is nothing like a good hunting cat.

Those sheep and cow dogs know a lot. Boston sounds like he was a great work dog and pet.

Anonymous said...

Dad...i do remember meeting "Boss" a couple of times in the early years we visited you on the farm in Maryborough...great story of him and appreciate it even more now we have our own dog "Hugh"...their such great companions.
Hope all is well...Love Lyn (d-i-l)

my4kids said...

I love how you refer to Streaky as owning you! hehe. Our cat Milo seems to think so also and I think he thinks of us as his pets rather then the other way around.
I loved the story about Boston!

karisma said...

Love the Boston story. My mums dog sounds very much like him. He is a border collie and very opinionated too.

Anonymous said...

Great stories. So very different from all the city dogs I knew while I was growing up.

ChrisB said...

I really enjoyed reading about Boston. My dog was a border collie/labrador cross and like Boston, was a lovely friend.

Joy T. said...

What a fantastic story to end my night on! I'm so glad I decided to catch some Fun Monday's early. Loved it!

Hootin Anni said...

Dang....guess that IS bloody old then. [just kidding of course].

I do so enjoy reading this week, all about our pets. You have a great tribute here, Peter! [I like how you added where Streaky honed his hunting skills!]

Have a great Fun Monday!

Anonymous said...

Boston sounded like a great companion (though I might question his choice of 'mothers' (Toyotas are preferred at our house). The picture of Streaky is precious. I can remember our kitty when I was 5-6, his name was Tom and he was a great mouser, and a good bed-mate when I was little. When had him a good long time. Excellent read this fine Monday morning.

Dave said...

Wow... great stories about great pets.... *S*

kitten said...

OMGess! That is just way cool! Thanks for sharing.

Sandy said...

There is nothing more stubborn than an intelligent dog! Glad you found a way around him...with the Honda mom! That's funny!

Kaytabug said...

I really enjoyed reading your stories! Thanks for sharing!!

Kim said...

They are both gorgeous animals.

When I was a young girl, I had a blue heeler pup, and she was a working dog. They are wonderful animals.

Gledwood said...

Hi Peter I know you as we have been in touch in the past... your poems are really entertaining but I don't think you were quite so fond of my more "intellectual" efforts... in mitigation may I point out no "poem" of mine I've posted has been less than 10 years old! I don't write poems any more....

whatever:
I've wanted for ages to tell you this one I read on a lavatory wall when I was a kid:

Devizes is a town in Somerset south England... sounds exactly the same as the verb "devises"

There once was a girl from Devizes
Whose tits were of two different sizes:
One was so small
It was no tit at all.
The other so big it won prizes!

Gledwood said...

ps we used to have border collies when i was a kid... some of the best doggies i've had

Junebug said...

I loved your story about Boston. Animals are very good companions.

Karina said...

Great post! It was really nice to learn about both Boston and Streaky, two seemingly loyal pets.

Tiggerlane said...

I am like totally impressed that you actually HERDED SHEEP! I would love to have seen a video of you and Boston on your driveway runs.

Molly said...

I enjoyed reading your memories about these two fine pets.

Unknown said...

I can't believe your sheep dog actually took directions from the Honda. That cracked me up! And, now I keep picturing you and the dog as people in the movie Babe. I won't get that image outta my head soon!

Retrohipster said...

That is a great story about Boston. A true testament to man's best friend!! Thanks for sharing!!

Robinella said...

Reminds me of a book where a little birdie that fell from a nest wanders around asking, "Are you my Mother?" :-)

Faye said...

Hi Peter--you have the secret--a busy, tired border collie is a GOOD dog! It makes me so happy to see these intelligent dogs doing what they need to do--work.

Anonymous said...

Funny how animals learn. You might be the first trainer of a dog using a Honda!!

Sounds like you two had some good times together despite that odd misinterpretation.

I know about the cat bringing home his catch to us. One morning there were 9 'presents' outside the door when I went to work. I bet he was pretty proud...just like your Streaky.

Walker said...

Yes cats tend to own you don;t they and dogs well they are mans best friend unless the wife is spitting fire then he's the first one running out the door LOL

Anonymous said...

Peter, I love the story of Boss. And I love the photo of Streaky! Thanks for sharing such a great post!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful post. Just now getting around to visiting all the FM posts, and this one really touches my heart.

Rachel said...

Oh, I loved reading about these two pets Peter!!

Bloody Old huh?? Now that must be OLD!!

Kerith Collins said...

i love the cat picture...it looks so cool...and old
kerith
http://momdumchronicles.blogspot.com

-Ann said...

Thanks for sharing the memories and the photos.

The new Fun Monday topic is now available. :)