King

For any of you who recognize and have had any relation with this dog, you will deem this picture as being very typical of King's character.  He is a dog who is rarely anything but afraid of his own shadow.  While once in a while he tries to ward off those things he fears with his massive bark, he always proves to have nothing more to show than just to put his tail between his legs, duck his head, and find somewhere to hide.  It's as if he has NO idea that he is a 150 lb. giant with 2" incisors that could ward off nearly anything that stood in his way.  Instead, he empowers the underdog with his massive size and sweet disposition.  Our cat uses him as a ally against any predators and our children are empowered by the protection his size renders.  At seven years old, he is in his senior years, with a breed life expectancy of 7-10.  For all of the years we have had him, we have always said- in contrast to our other dogs- that if he were by himself out in the wild, he would quickly perish.  No instincts whatsoever.   

I would like to share a little eye-opening experience I had the other day as I was doing chores in our barn.  Typically, I let all of the dogs out of their kennel to run around, I feed the pig & chickens, and then do a little tidying of the kennels and common area.  King usually runs around with all of the cow dogs, and more often than not, gets harassed & pushed around.  On this particular day, however, I was in the barn cleaning and heard a non-typical bleating coming from the sheep outside.  I immediately figured our older cow dog was just trying to herd them around as usual.  I walked out to see what was happening and one of the most surprising scenes unfolded before my eyes.  There I saw one of the sheep running as King grabbed her hind leg, and with one jerk of his head flipped it onto the ground and pounced.  I immediately attempted to call him off and started to run towards him, but he did not even flinch at my voice.  By the time I got to them, King was on top of her and working at her throat.  Had I intercepted any seconds later, there would have been nothing more I could have done.. the fatal blow was sure to come at any moment.

When we first received our lambs from our good friend Kate, she very distinctly told me that I needed to be wary of my dogs around them.  I always have kept a close eye on the ones I figured would be the likely candidates for attack.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I needed to save them from the biggest canine pansy known to man. 

So often I am amazed by the instinctive nature of all manner of life here on earth.  Their instinct to reproduce and protect & rear their young, their innate desire to hunt, their methods of warding off predators.... every being in accordance with it's own making.  This was the Lord's plan.. for each living thing to grow in it's own sphere to fulfill the measure of it's creation here on earth.  Even an animal such as King, an animal that has been conditioned and bred to live within the bounds that man has set has some level of instinct to survive & perpetuate it's kind.  This has always been evident to me with our other dogs, as we rely on their instincts so often in our work.  But this experience with King has only reaffirmed my surety of this knowledge... that it is there within all to one level or another.  I don't think it will ever cease to be such a marvel to me.