Cimarron Hagar

I'm so thoroughly thrilled with my ES pup Hagar! He's 7 months old. Yesterday our neighbor moved his cattle from one field to the other, across our property. He's got a good-sized herd, maybe 100 head. DH usually helps move them, and asked for my help this time - we've got 2 golf carts now! He was unsure about letting Hagar help, and thought surely he would just chase them willy-nilly. I took a leash just in case. This was Hagar's first experience with moving stock!

Well he was just awesome! Terry's golf cart got stuck in a ditch so I was moving the cows by myself (with Hagar's help, or vice versa ;) ) - we headed the first group toward the destination gate (luckily, these cows know the routine pretty well! They like to detour through my garden though), Hagar placed himself exactly where he needed to be. When the first of the group went through the gate, we went back to get the rest of them. Hagar came back to me when I called, and was right back on the job when he saw cows needing to move.

The second group was 3 calves and a lame cow. The calves, who don't know the routine, started to go out into the field - Hagar, being faster than my golf cart (!), headed them back toward the gate. I was just backup at that point - he was doing all the work! I told him "easy!" a couple of times and he backed off and let the calves trot - as long as they were going the right direction! Once the lame cow caught up he eased her through the gate.

One straggler had to be flushed out of the first pasture, while Hagar and I waited. Terry and the kids, who had finally gotten unstuck, decided to go back to the house. The straggler calf went out through the fence instead of the gate (a common occurrence, sigh!) and walked right through my garden. Hagar took off like a bullet toward the calf, but by the time he got to the calf it was already through the garden. That calf, a little bullock, kept turning to face Hagar, but Hagar never backed down or acted afraid - the calf would turn and stop, then realize Hagar was still coming at him, and turn back toward the gate and go on his merry way!

Once all the cows were in their new pasture, I went to shut the gate and called Hagar back to me - he was having so much fun he didn't want to stop! but once he realized we were done he came back easily. Smiling big. :)

Job well done, Hagar. I'm so happy with him! And Terry got to see that this is not just any old dog, and maybe he WILL be useful (although Terry didn't get to directly witness Hagar herding). :)

Nicole in KY

WOW! I just witnessed something that scared and delighted me at the same time. We have three cats, and we feed them in a dog-proof "cat house" on the porch (well, except Hagar can totally get his head in that little bitty hole and steal food). Ever since I moved here there's been a feral tomcat I call Romeo stealing food from my cats - he was somewhat welcome here until he started spraying/peeing in any open car and all over everything in the greenhouse and workshop. Now that we feed raw, Romeo's theft of food has become a serious issue. DH has been threatening to kill him for some time now - but we don't have a gun big enough to do it humanely.

Hagar has picked up the fact that Romeo is not a welcome guest, and I've coached him to "Get him! Get him!" a couple of times when I've seen Romeo on the porch.

Well Romeo was just in the cat house helping himself to some raw meat, and I PSSST! him out onto the porch, where Hagar immediately grabbed him and started shaking the tar out of him! Fur was flying, cat was hissing and spitting for his life, I hollered in surprise and Hagar let him go, then pursued him under the house (though he doesn't fit under there very well anymore!). I called him off, told him he did a good job, and he hung out peacefully on the porch with the 3 GOOD cats.

WOW. Holy cow. What impressed me was his display of power and *immediacy* in catching and shaking the cat - like he totally knew what to do. He's never killed anything before that I know of. I don't think he killed this cat, but he sure scared him! And I'm sure he would have killed the cat if that had been what I wanted (i.e. had I not called him off).

What scares me is that Romeo is a tuxedo (b&W) cat, and I have a tuxedo cat that looks just like a smaller version of him. I'm afraid of mistaken identity, though I know dogs don't process information the same way people do. He totally knows the difference between MY cats and this feral cat. I did see him jump at the cat house again a few minutes later though, I think he saw a clump of cat hair or something and was ready for action again!

And he lets the rooster chase him around :) I have 5 other chickens in the tractor, but I let the "game" rooster out during the day (he's an Egyptian Fayoumis, and just a pet/test chicken), if Hagar gets too close the rooster puffs up and goes after him - too funny! Then Hagar gets all excited and starts running circles around the roo, what a fun game! But I call him off, I can't be letting him have too much fun with the chickens!

The rooster, the dog, and one of the cats were hanging out together in the garden the other day - perfect oppt'y for a picture but I didn't have my camera, boo!

So Hagar herds and hunts. And guards, but he hasn't really had an opportunity to guard his livestock or territory yet. We've only had the chickens for a couple of weeks. I was hoping for a herder and guardian - the hunting aspect is gravy! Cool! I'll try to get some pictures of him soon, and post them.

Nicole in KY

Our neighbor's pet (full-size!) pig had escaped his pen and came over to see if we had any goodies. I was busy tending to the chickens when I noticed him (or rather, Hagar noticed him), so I didn't get around to chasing him off right away. Hagar knew this pig did NOT belong here, but did not actively chase him until I did so myself. I had to go to the barn to get a stick of some sort to tap him with (he's trained this way), and he came right in. Porkchop didn't care one whit about the barking dogs, until I started tapping him and telling him to go home - then Hagar started trying to herd him in earnest - biting his heels, looking big, being very noisy. Pig said, "I weigh about a thousand times more than you do, what'cha gonna do?" but I backed Hagar up with the tapping-stick, and we got the job done.

Well not completely, but we did get the pig off the property. I had my babies in the house and couldn't leave them unattended for long enough to take Porkchop all the way back home, so I told Hagar he was on duty. I helped him chase the pig out of the yard one more time. Hagar spent the next few hours keeping close watch in the direction the pig went - yet staying on our property! That's what he's doing in this picture (the Hagar Guarding one), meanwhile other dogs were barking themselves to exhaustion... Hagar stayed home and made sure that pig didn't come back here!

Oh and yesterday, Hagar *insisted* that we go help a neighbor move his cattle across the back of our property. That man will never ask for help! I didn't know he was moving them, but there they were all out in my field, and he was trying to lead them with a bucket of grain in his truck. Most of them were just free ranging, not even aware of any truck or grain... so I hopped on the golf cart (best homestead tool/toy ever!) and told Hagar to go'on and get'em, which he did. He moved all those cows, and a couple of bulls, pretty much by himself in a matter of minutes - a job that would have taken Richard an hour or more, I guess, with just him and his truck. Richard remarked that Hagar was a good cow dog, and anytime I wanted to let him help move the cows, I was more than welcome to. :)

Nicole in KY