Mac the Wonder Dog: Got cows? Got birds? Mac is the dog for the job.

Stand around my little buckaroo for my tail of a wonder dog. Mostly I wonder what he will do next. Any how the story goes like this. I had been feeding the horse both morn and night as my friend Bill is on vacation and he usually comes to check on the horses and feeds at night. Things had been going fairly smoothly and nothing exciting was happening. Then on Friday evening about 6:00 I went to feed the horses, they come a running to the hay pile except Drifter the Bay 3 yr old. He just stands out in the pasture. So I load hay into the wagon that pulls behind the 4 wheeler (oh did I forget to tell you that we bought two 4 wheelers from a rancher friend of ours who could afford new ones, these two are not in the best of shape but they run barely) and head out to the pasture to feed the horses away from the hay pile. I go to Drifter and he limps real bad, I could not see any damages to his leg nor could I feel any, but he was tender to the touch on his pastern that’s between his hoof and forelock. I just happened to have a piece of rope with me so I put it around his neck and led him back to the catch pen we have set up. I put him in there until I could get back in the morning to look at his leg better in the light. His hock looked swollen, so watched it for a while then I put some horse lineament on it. He stayed in there until Monday, when I let him out as he seemed to be walking better. But back to the wonder dog Mac. We got Mac 3 years ago in June, our son Lewy and his wife Jessica bought us this wonder dog after another great dog Gordo passed away. Mac is all puppy; going on 3 years old and weighing in at 110 pounds of love. You have all seen the pictures of Mac and T bone our steer with each other and the bond that has grown between them. Well every morning when I feed T bone gets special calf chow for his growing bones to keep him strong and happy. As we all know a happy beef gives us good meat. Anyway T bone is usually out by the horses in the morning in the hay pasture. After Mac and I feed the horses it is a race back to the house and barn to see who gets there first I guess. But especially for T bone as his calf chow is waiting. But he follows; chases; gets chased by Mac and it is a grand old time. Well Sunday night the 22 of February, I went to feed the horses and I did not see T bone in the pasture so I assumed he was back at the barn getting a drink of water. When I pull up to the hay pile I see the two free horses running and bucking and chasing T bone. Now how he got over there I had no clue and it was getting too dark to check fences, all I know was I had to get him back to his side and luckily into the barn yard. My first thoughts were I would need to go get my saddle and rope and play cowboy and rope and drag him home, but then I would have to try and stop my horse from running around ; bucking and jumping just so I could saddle him and catch or herd T bone where he needed to go. What happens is my wonder dog shows up and T bone sees Mac and comes a running to see if he wanted to play also I guess any ways here he come. So I thought Mac will come if I call him and if Mac comes then T bone is sure to follow. I opened the gate as I had fed the horses and they were to busy eating to worry about getting out or chasing T bone anymore. Jumped on my 4 wheeler gassed it through calling Mac to come with me and we zoomed through, low and behold here comes T bone, I get off to close the gate behind him when he gets through, but no he stops half way through and back up. So I talk gently to him (calf whisperer taught me this trick) and try to circle around behind. The wonder dog is no where to be seen, so I thought this is going to be an all night thing pretty soon, I called Mac and he pokes his head out from behind the water trailer. T bone see’s Mac and puts his head down and runs through the gate, finally trapped. But then I remembered he knew how to get out somewhere and I didn’t know his spot. I pondered and thought I will see if he will follow us back to the barn at night even though we do not feed him calf chow at night. I took off, Mac being hungry takes off for the barn, I call T bone and keep calling his name, I look back and he is following me, then all of a sudden there is a black blur goes by me. It was T bone he saw Mac making the corner around the fence heading to the barn and he was off. I had to gas the 4 wheeler to catch up and close the gate before he saw he had no treats in his bucket. So now Mac is not only a certified great bird dog, he is a good cow dog also. So I fed them both extra chow last night just to say thanks and looked to heaven as I know who really helped me get everyone home safe.