Scully
was born July 9, 1997 in San Juan Bautista, California. I had found her
breeder through the Internet while looking for Australian Cattle Dog
puppies. I don't know why I ended up calling Ken Hershey -- you'd think
there'd be closer ACD breeders to my home which was in Colorado. Ken
talked a good story. He said he raised "working" dogs and besides his
place in California, he had ranches in Colorado and New Mexico. I asked
about AKC papers and he said he wasn't aligned with them, but could get
me U.S. Kennel Club papers. A bell should have gone off in my head
right there, but I didn't care much about official papers. I just
wanted a good trail dog, and Ken said he had the prettiest female who
was very speckled.
Probably
the number one reason I decided to get a dog from Ken was that he said
he could actually hand deliver the dog to me, since he'd be coming out
to his ranch in Alamosa when she'd be weaned. So we struck up a deal.
Scully cost $450. I sent half as a down payment.
I
was told I could pick Scully up on Sunday, September 7th. He asked if I
could meet him half-way from Alamosa, at a ranger station just west of
Walsenburg. I didn't mind the hour drive. It was a sunny and beautiful
day. When I pulled into the parking lot Ken was already there. I had
brought a cardboard box with towel inside to put Scully. He handed her
over to me, noting how distinctive her coloring was. She was a pretty
puppy, but very scared. I noticed her eyes were runny and she was
shaking. He said it was just the long trip and she would bond to me
within in a few weeks. He showed me some pictures of her parents, and
had some official looking papers, showing one "champion" dog that he
had raised.
We
drove home and the first thing I noticed was that Scully was not like
ordinary puppies who love human contact and attention. All she wanted
to do was find a hole or corner to hide in. She was filthy dirty and
covered with fleas! This made me kind of mad to have forked over $450
for a dog in this condition. I bought flea shampoo and got her cleaned
up.
On
September 11th, only four days later, my parents drove up to visit from
Utah. It was dark outside when they arrived, and Scully ran outside in
all the commotion. I had yet to fence the entire backyard, and the gate
on the west side of the house was left open. She disappeared! I was
panicked. I was sure she had escaped to the street and was long gone
fleeing into the night. I could just see her getting hit by a car or
eaten by coyotes. After what seemed like an eternity of searching, I
took my flashlight and looked in the garden. Shiny green eyes revealed
her location in the corn. She had run about 50 feet from the house and
had hidden herself in the tall sweet corn of the garden.
Monday,
Sept. 15th, I took my new puppy to the vet for the first time. Scully
was examined head to tail and had her ears cleaned. I can only imagine
the conditions she lived in during her first eight weeks. At least she
was now in good hands! The usual puppy shots and deworming were
scheduled/administered.
It
took Scully about two weeks to completely bond to me. However, she was
extremely afraid of all other humans. When I called Mr. Hershey several
weeks later to ask about her human socialization, he confirmed that she
had none during her first 8 weeks (years later I would learn the Mr. Hershey would go to jail for cruelty to animals). I believe Scully was born into puppy mill conditions. Most puppies are friendly and eager
to sniff new people, but Scully's response was to hide in the nearest
bushes or whatever cover she could find. I would take her to my
sister's in Colorado Springs as often as possible to get her used to
kids and people. She's a lot better about being around people, although
she does have the cattle dog trait of being very devoted to one person
specifically. She's a true Velcro dog.
When
Scully was old enough to start hiking in the local mountains, I began
training her to come and follow me over rocky terrain. Her first big
outing was up the dinosaur trail off of Four-Mile Creek. She did pretty
well, only she had to learn how to avoid cactus. I tried teaching her
to use special doggy shoes, but she always kicked them off. I
made sure to bring along tweezers in my day pack. She's now pretty
cactus proof and knows how to avoid them.
June
20, 1998 (almost one year old), Scully was bitten by a two- to three-
foot-long Prairie Rattlesnake. I had to carry her about two miles back
to the car, and it took us another 20 minutes to get to the vet. It was
a Saturday, but luckily Dr. Pamela Rose was already there, treating a
dog with a gunshot wound. Scully was given about four different
injections (but no anti-venom), and put on antibiotics. The
bite was on her right "knee joint." The whole leg swelled to over twice
its normal size and was very painful. After a number of weeks, she
recovered completely, and the tiny scar is almost impossible to see
anymore.
Scully
has become a great hiker. At the tender age of six months, she went on
a 30 mile hike with a scout troop from Canon City and did a fine job
herding the boys. She loves to climb rocks and does a great Rin-Tin-Tin
pose on the nearest rock pinnacle she can find.
Although
Scully has never taken formal obedience training, she is well mannered
and follows both voice and hand commands for: stay, come, sit, shake
hands, roll over, lie down, and crawl. She loves to play a hide and
seek game -- I hide the cheese (in another room) and she finds it.
I
was laid off on February 22, 2001. After selling our house in Colorado
that summer, we moved into my grandmother's house in Salt Lake City,
Utah. Scully has learned to "urban hike" here on the Avenues, and
does pretty well on the off-leash trail with other dogs / people in
Memory Grove. She's a little skittish around big dogs though. While
still in Colorado, she was attacked in her own backyard at night by the
neighbor's two big huskies. They grabbed on to the skin around her
shoulders but didn't do much damage except for the mental trauma.
Because of that incident, she runs away whenever several bigger dogs
try to be friendly (which only incites a chase response, so it's a
vicious cycle). But she's getting better and more relaxed with the idea
of being around most dogs. She weighs about 38 pounds, yet is smaller
than most cattle dogs I've seen. Scully is now five-years-old
and I consider her the best dog I have ever owned.
