Border Collies

When I was growing up, we had a dog that I named Ranger. Ranger was a black-and-white border collie, and was extremely smart. I could look at that dog a certain way and he would know what I wanted him to do. He was large for a border collie - he weighed about 50 lbs. If you take the time to train them and keep them entertained, they can do some amazing things...

Border Collie Chaplin Routine

...however...

Ranger was rather foul-tempered. He would go crazy around other dogs, barking ferociously and then attacking them balls out. Since he was smart, he figured out how to get out of the backyard and stir up trouble in the neighborhood. He was also allergic to fleas, and lost all the hair on the back half of his body. Due to his continued habit of getting out and attempting to eat other dogs, we had to take him to the pound, where (and it's getting a little dusty in here all of a sudden...) he probably lived for most of an hour before getting put down.

My brother Aaron was heartbroken that the dog was taken without him knowing, so that weekend, we went out and got Buster, an Australian Shepherd. Buster was a sweet dog, but dumb as dirt. He once ran full-speed into a chain link fence when I called him from the other side. He was so docile that when Eclipse, my parent's cat, came over to him, he would relinquish his spot. Buster was Aaron's dog; Ranger was mine.

I'm now about a year into having my second pet, Wolfy. Wolfy is a smart cat, and was the most spirited kitten of his litter. He's big and beautiful, weighing in at about 15 pounds. He's rather foul-tempered though, so much so that my mom doesn't like to come over because she's afraid Wolfy will attack her. Ellen thinks he has dominance issues, and she's probably right - he needs to be the alpha male in the house, and is trying to make this clear to me. He's probably bored living in this house, too, and wants to be hunting and killing things, like a good cat should. Maybe I ought to train Wolfy to do a Chaplin routine. It would sure beat taking him to the pound...