"Do Unto Others..."

"Uncle Bo," said the fair merle pup, Morgan, on a long winter’s evening during a visit from Indiana. "Tell us the story about the mean rooster."

"Ah," said Bo, cocking his flop ear almost straight, "Are you sure that’s the story you want to hear?"

"Yes," chorused red Nessie pup and Morgan together. "We want to hear about the mean rooster and how you almost tamed him."

"Well," said Bo, "that was a long time ago. Let’s see if I can remember."

Bo closed his eyes and almost appeared to be asleep. Morgan and Nessie waited as patiently as pups visiting their uncle can wait. When Bo opened his eyes, he stared into the fire a long time. The pups had seen this before and held their tongues, as they too stared into the fire, trying to catch a glimpse of the past dancing in the flames as Bo seemed to see.

"A long time ago," Bo finally began, "a third-grade teacher borrowed eggs and an incubator from Mum so she could hatch out chicks in class. Only three of the eggs hatched. The kids loved those little chicks. Two were little girls, and one was a little male who was destined to be a great big rooster. His name was Cogburn, and this is his story."

As chicks, the two hens and the rooster were sweet as can be. They played with the kids as the kids watched them grow. But the little rooster was heart broken when time came for him to leave the school children. He thought they were his. When he moved with the two little hens back to the farm, he was greatly disappointed that he no longer owned 20 children. All he had to boss around were the two little hens. One day the time came for them to move into the big chicken yard. As soon as Cogburn entered the yard, he saw another rooster. His two little  hens said, "Cogburn, go introduce yourself to this other rooster and find out where we should go for food." But Cogburn would have none of it. "I don’t need help from the likes of him," Cogburn said, glaring at the other rooster.

Now this other rooster was Chanteclair, Cogburn’s own father. But of course they did not recognize each other. Cogburn wanted to be boss and would not ask for help, so he immediately attacked Chanteclair. A fierce battle ensued. Feathers flew. Chanteclair proved stronger and drove Cogburn into hiding. Cogburn huddled in shame, vowing to seek revenge. He still would not ask for help.

Mum rescued Cogburn and moved him into the goat pen with his two little hens.

Cogburn hated Mum for this. He wanted to stay and beat up the other rooster, even though he was way too young to win in a battle with his mighty father.

Cogburn might have been happy in the goat yard. Things went well for awhile. But soon, Cogburn started acting mean to his hens. "Hen, bring me my breakfast," shouted Cogburn, giving her a peck on the back. Mum was sad to see the hens treated so badly. So Mum moved the hens back to the main chicken yard. This left Cogburn alone with the goats. Then Cogburn started being mean to the goats. "Goats, let me eat first!" crowed Cogburn. "I am your master!" Cogburn even made a few attempts to attack Mum. One day Cogburn jumped at Noisey, one of the nubian goats, and sliced a gash on her side. Mum doctored the goat and locked Cogburn in a rabbit cage. "Solitary confinement," she told Cogburn. "You need to earn your freedom by behaving nicer."

Well, you can bet this did not help Cogburn’s mood. Every time Mum tried to feed him, Cogburn pecked her hands or sliced her with his claws. He was just plain mean. Mum kept thinking that if she was nice to Cogburn she could teach him to be nice.

It did not work.

Eventually, she felt sorry for Cogburn's being locked in such a small cage. She thought and thought about where she could move him where he could not hurt anyone. After the coyotes stole six hens from the chicken yard, Mum began keeping the hens in their coups for the winter. The main chicken run was now empty. Figuring Cogburn was pretty tough, she turned him loose in the empty chicken run, giving him all that space by himself. She figured he would be safe from the coyotes because he could roost up high out of their way...and if they did come, well she figured he could defend the hens until the dogs could come to help him.

This worked well as Cogburn no longer fought with any of the other chickens or animals. But, Mum had to walk through the chicken run to feed the other chickens in their coups. At first things went well. But then Cogburn became grumpy again. He hated Mum for bringing him food. "I don't need help," he crowed. Each time she tried to go through, Cogburn would attack her. Sometimes he left deep scratch marks on her legs.

So, Mum started bringing me in with her. She would tell me, "Bo, hold him." Then I would pin the rooster while she finished feeding and watering the other chickens. This worked pretty well, but she was afraid this was teaching me bad habits. Well, I must have taught Cogburn a few manners, because pretty soon he stayed away from Mum when she went in the pen...at least as long as I was watching.

But then some of the other baby birds started growing up. The guineas needed to use the yard and so did the ducks. The rooster seemed to get along fine with this for awhile, but soon he started attacking Mum again. The guineas didn’t like this, so they started taking after the rooster. "Cogburn, don’t attack Mum!" They told him as they chased him around the yard. "Leave Mum alone, and we will leave you alone." But Cogburn said, "I’ll do what I please and I don’t need any help from you." Well, the guineas were so mean to the rooster, that Mum feared for his safety. So she turned him loose in the backyard. Cogburn was angry. He wanted to beat up those guineas and win back his yard. He didn’t want Mum moving him. So he started to go after her again.

Well, seeing this, I just couldn’t help myself. I jumped on that rooster and pinned him to the ground. In fact, every time I saw him, I just had to make him stand still, and then I would give him a lecture. I told him, "Cogburn, leave Mum alone and I’ll not pin you to the ground."

Cogburn crowed back from under my paws, "I’ll do as I please, and I don’t need any help from you." Then Mum would pull me off. Of course, she didn’t know what I was telling him.

So Mum figured being loose in the yard wasn’t good for Cogburn either. She didn’t have any more yards suitable for a nasty rooster, so she decided to put him out in the pasture with the horses. There was food, water and shelter, and the horses had enough room to stay away from him. The horses would make sure no coyotes came into the corral. Mum figured Cogburn would be safe, and perhaps for once he would be happy and stop being so grumpy.

But it was not to be.

Cogburn mouthed off to the horses, and they chased him around a bit.

Finally, Cogburn was tired from running and jumped to the top of the water trough for a drink.

"You can’t catch me!" he yelled, turning to laugh at the horses. But in turning, he slipped and tumbled into the water. Hearing the splash, the horses said, "Cogburn, do you need some help? Just give a shout and we will pull you out with our teeth."

"You can’t fool me, " said Cogburn, "You will just use those teeth to hurt me. Well, I’m as smart as the ducks and they swim, so I will too." 

"Silly Cogburn," the horses said, "Roosters can't swim. Let us help you. It will take only a moment, and you'll  be safe and dry." 

"I'll do as I please, and I don't need any help from you," the rooster crowed.  But Cogburn couldn’t swim, so he sank to the bottom and drowned, and Dad had to clean the water trough and bury Cogburn deep where the coyotes wouldn’t find him.

"So," said Bo, turning his gaze from the fire and looking at the merle pup and the little red and white pup. "You two are smart little border collies. This story has two lessons. What might they be?"

"Don’t be mean!" shouted Nessie, always quick to give an answer first.

"That’s one," said Bo. "What would be the other?"

Both pups looked at Bo and thought. Finally Morgan ventured a guess. "I think I know, Uncle Bo," she said. "I think the second moral is to ask for help when you need it."

"That’s right too," said Bo. "Cogburn couldn’t trust that anyone would help him because he had been mean all his life. Rather than ask for help, he let himself drown, and that’s a shame. Time for bed!"

"Thanks for the story, Uncle Bo," said Nessie and Morgan, as they trotted off to bed to dream of herding sheep and chasing roosters.

"Any time, pups. Sure nice to have you here for a visit." Bo stared into the fire for a long time before closing his eyes and nodding off to sleep. Of course, even in sleep he kept one ear cocked listening for those pesky coyotes.  

In memory of poor misguided Rooster Cogburn, April 2000 to June 18, 2001. 
May he rest in peace.