When you have a large number of Border Collies, you are inclined to walk in some remote areas. Luckily, we have a friend with a forest, who also has permission to explore her neighbour’s farm/forest. So last Sunday morning we set off with 7 dogs. We had walked about a kilometre when we heard some barking amongst some struggling but persistent regenerating native bush. Paddington, our pack leader, took on the role of chief search and rescue dog and “flushed” out a young Labrador cross pup and a very mature smaller black dog. My friend scrambled up a bank of rotting pines and picked up each dog. Even though we had leads with us, there was no way these lost and bewildered canines were going to trot behind a pack of inquisitive and crazy Collies who still had hours of unused energy to get rid of! My friend decided to carry the pup who was heavier and I heaved up the small but rotund elderly pooch. I reckoned she weighed about 9Kg but by the time we had scaled a few hills and arrived back at the house she surely had doubled in weight! This black duo had no collars and hence no tags and where they may well have had microchips, the rural vets are not open on a Sunday to scan these hidden devices. It was indeed fortunate that my friend recognised the older dog as one that lived about a kilometre away and had her neighbour’s phone number. We put the AWOL pair safely in a puppy pen with plenty of water, left a message on the possible owner’s phone and finished our walk thereby managing to exhaust 7 Border Collies. It turned out Hunter and Coco must have gone walkabout during the night. They had wandered at least 3 kilometres away from home in some fairly remote territory. They appeared well and truly lost! It was a happy ending and they were safely home by midday. However, it did get me thinking that I should get tags for all my Collies with my phone number on although they are all microchipped. It was a lesson I learned today.
