Legacy

Tent Calf is still in the special care section. His mom seems slightly less cranky, but she’s not really happy about being a mother. Maybe a few more days of attitude adjustment…

I was looking through my photos, and found this one from two days ago…

Indy checking out the cows. She hasn’t had that much exposure to cattle, but she’s just a pup and that’s ok. She’s been riding along in the side by side when I drive through looking for calves. This led me through a research of my dogs… starting with Lucas in 2006. Then Elsa, Dally, Eden, Bravo, and now Indy. The last litter I managed to breed was with Dally in 2012. I tried breeding her two more times, but she didn’t take, and I spayed her due to age. Along came Eden who after growing up for two years, I tried breeding AI with Lucas twice! She didn’t take. Then I lost Lucas right after we tried the AI the last time. Then along came Lucas’ nephew, Bravo. Two years later… Things were set finally for Eden on her next heat which didn’t happen unfortunately. It was just Bravo and I and I thought maybe that would just be ok. Rimrock English Shepherds had its heyday… no biggee. But it was. It niggled at me. I wanted puppies! I mean, it seems like everybody could have a litter of pups without even really trying … no researching breeding lines, or testing for hips or MDR1, or waiting until they were fully grown at age two. Why? Why me? Then I found Indy, who actually came from the son of Elsa’s breeder…I was circling back around!

Obviously, she’s not old enough to breed but there was a little voice in my head that kept saying… something’s wrong.

Two weeks ago, I took her to the vet. She shuffles her back paws. She runs and wrestles, but doesn’t jump. She’s clumsy. It’s like there’s a different driver for her back end, rounding corners fast, she’s out of control. Climbing into the side by side, half the time she misses with her back feet. Pet her down her spine and she’ll give way and collapse under your hand. I had chalked it up to puppy clumsiness for months, but no.

The vet confirmed my suspicions. Indy has partial nerve damage to her back feet. Most likely developmental in the womb. The nerves that run down her back to her outside toes don’t work quite right. Think of it as a tree, the trunk is fine, but the bark doesn’t work. She has no idea where her back feet really are, they just follow. It’s not genetic, but pregnancy could aggravate her condition. He recommended that I not breed her.

Well, hell.

I have to admit, I’ve struggled a bit with this. It’s difficult to keep running into bad luck on breeding since 2012! Acceptance is a bear to deal with. Just because I’ve wanted puppies doesn’t mean it’s in God’s plan for me. So I try not to think of my plans, and just think of little Indy.

There’s nothing to do for her. She doesn’t know her back feet don’t work right. She is feisty and wants to wrestle with Bravo and run. She’s curious about cows and before I took the photo of her she had snapped her teeth at the cows through the fence! The vet said that being a cowdog and running through sagebrush and living a good dog life might indeed bring about serious nerve damage that would be the end of her, but it might not… none of us know the future.

Indy will be spayed soon. Bravo… I’ll leave him a stud a while longer… getting one more pup that is a Lucas shadow would be ideal. I don’t have to own the mother… in a few years, maybe the time will be right and maybe things will work out and maybe it will just all come together and maybe, just maybe, there will be a few more pups for a Rimrock English Shepherd legacy.

Find me here!

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