The Tractor Snob

Our son has a beautiful blue merle Australian Shepherd (for you non-dog fanciers, she is grey, black and white...don't ask me where the term blue merle comes from!)  Our son hates leaving her at home alone while everyone is at school or work, so he brings her to the farm every day for me to "dog-sit".  So she is a farm dog during the day and kid guardian/house dog at night.

Ellie is a sweet dog, utterly devoted to her master and family.  In fact, she spends most of the day waiting by the old farm truck for our son to return to the farm. 

When she isn't waiting she chews up things--like my little 4th of July Flag.  Or she barks at the buzzards that fly over the yard--I swear just to tease her.  She also is one of those dogs that could get muddy sitting in the middle of a drought.  She delights in "herding" the cattle and is really a pretty good cow dog...if only we knew how to tell her what we wanted.  She loves to chase cats and rabbits but is dumfounded if she catches them.  Our son swears she was chasing a rabbit on one of the hot days until the rabbit just gave up and laid down.  Screeching to a halt by the panting bunny, she sat down and yipped encouragingly until he caught his breath and could get up.  Then she yipped one last time and trotted back to the truck.  What fun is a rabbit that won't run?  

She is our son's constant companion and rides with him wherever he goes.  As soon as the engine is started she jumps into the floorboard and gets ready for action.  She rides in his truck, the Polaris and the cab tractors.  The kids have even taught her to jump onto the saddle of the 4-wheeler and hang on behind whichever kid is using it.  If you are going, she is going too.

She has always ridden in the big cab tractors with our son.  They are roomy with lots of windows so she can look all around.  If something interesting appears, she whines at the door until they let her out to give chase.  Then she catches up to the tractor and they let her back in. 

Then our son decided to trade tractors.  The one he had been using was a little too big for his purpose and needed some repairs.  Rather than spend the money he decided to get a different tractor.  He found a used one, which, while perfect for his needs, is a bit smaller than the old tractor. 

The first chore for the new tractor was cutting and raking hay.  Now that Hubby is home, we usually have two tractors running as hard as they can go.  Ellie bounced out and climbed into our son's tractor and left for the hayfield.  The morning passed and the men returned to the house for lunch.  After lunch they returned to their perspective tractors to continue cutting hay.  Ellie looked at first one tractor than the other.  Then with a sheepish look, she followed Hubby to his bigger,  newer green tractor.  Son, shook his head, while Ellie rode off with Hubby for an afternoon of cutting.

That evening, as we sat on the porch, we were laughing over the dog switching tractors.  It seems that son's tractor was a little cramped for her and she decided to ride in the big tractor where she could stretch out. 

Son reached out and gently rubbed her head as it rested on his knee in apology.    "I kind of sympathize with the guy whose girl left him to ride in the fancy sports car.  I hate to admit it dog, but I guess you are just a tractor snob!"