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CHLOE
The Farm Dog
Chloe is a 10-year old, sable and white rough collie rescued from death row at the Denver Dumb Friends League by Pueblo Collie/Sheltie Rescue. She certainly had a loving first owner and was excellently trained. Some circumstance forced the first owner(s) to give her up and she was given to people who left her alone all day in the yard. Her bored barking led to neighbor complaints and her death sentence. We adopted her in 2005.
We've both had many dogs, but we agree that she's the best either of us has had. Margaret, especially feels an almost supernatural bond with Chloe. When Margaret was ten, growing up in Yorkshire, she begged for a dog and got "Shep," a smooth collie. Margaret loved Shep and cared for him faithfully. Nevertheless, she came home from school one day to find that her mother had given Shep away to a farmer. The little girl biked to all the nearby farms but never found Shep. As she grew to know Chloe many years later, she couldn't escape the feeling that Shep had come back to her again.
Two years ago, we moved from our suburban Golden home to a 150-year-old farmhouse on ten overgrown acres in the Finger Lakes Wine Region of Western New York When, after a three-day auto trip from Colorado, we let Chloe out of the car, she raced around the place at top speed without pause for an hour, clearly telling us, "This is the home I've waited for all my life!"
Chloe is quite certain that she can manage the affairs of our "farm" without any supervision from us. She set out immediately to rid the place of ground hogs and managed to convince them that they would live longer, less stressful lives somewhere else. Our neighbor raises beef cattle. One heifer figured out how to get over the electric fence and would regularly graze in the field between us. Chloe would chase it back into its own place. Once the fence came down and about twelve steers were grazing at the edge of our land. Chloe expertly bunched them up and escorted them back to their proper field as if she'd been herding cattle all her life. She also protects us from stray cats, squirrels and deer. Though ten years old, she can run like the wind when there are deer to be sent back into the woods, their proper place.
All the neighbors know Chloe from our morning three-mile walks after which she's content to spend the day curled up on her designated chair or before the fire. We're sure Chloe would agree that being a farm dog is the life she was meant to live.
-- By Chloe's dad Bob
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