10/19/06 Smokey and Spike

Smokey and Spike I had two helpers one fall that were entertaining as well as decent workers. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back with the story. One fall everyone else on the ranch was busy, so I inherited the roundup to bring the cows and calves into the wheat stubble fields. Now this suited me just fine since this has always been one of my favorite jobs. Most of my help for the gather was two ranch dogs named Smokey and Spike. Smokey was a blue heeler mix that we acquired from a rodeo stock contractor. He came to us minus about one quarter of his teeth  a testament to his blue heeler heritage being just a bit too aggressive working rodeo stock as a pup. But true to that heritage it takes more than loosing a few teeth to keep a blue heeler from finishing a job or understanding what made him loose a tooth in the first place so Smokey never quit being a quiet willing worker. Spike was a handsome Australian Shepard cross we got from a friend with not quite enough room or animals for Spike's herding instincts. Spike's cerebral powers were never a question but he did lack a little intestinal fortitude if a cow got ugly and needed to be put in line. Now one good cowboy and two good dogs can gather a lot of cows over a lot of country. Well the cows and country were well represented but the cowboy and dog end of the deal were a bit lacking. Anyway, we started the fall gather  a kind-of-cowboy with Spike the thinker and Smokey, the blue-collar worker. Tomorrow I'll tell you how the team fared when it came to game time. I'm Jeff Keane.