Bandit is quite the swimmer, as you can see above. But when he came to live with me, he didn't know how to swim. Well, maybe I better start at the beginning.........
In 2003 I bought a house in Central VA. It was adjacent to a large wooded area, used only occasionally by humans, as a day camp, used constantly by many deer who live there. One of the reasons I liked the house was because it had a nice garden spot, and I like to garden. However, everyone I talked to said "You can't raise a garden there, the deer will eat everything." I talked to the neighbors and they said the former owners of the house had a dog who lived in the back yard and kept the deer away. Ahh, good idea! So off to the local animal shelter I went.
There he was, looking all sad in his cage. When he moved, he limped a little on his right rear leg. "His name is Hero" said the nice lady showing me the dogs. "Why do you call him Hero?", I asked.
Well, it turns out he had been brought in to the shelter by a man asking that he be put down. The poor doggie had been hit by a car and had a broken leg. The dog's owner had taken him to a Vet to see about getting the leg set, but the cost was going to be $650 which the man could not afford.
The shelter took ownership of the dog, and found a Vet who would set the leg, including installing a pin in his leg, from hip to knee.
"He just came back to the shelter," the nice woman said. "We adopted him out about a week ago to a woman who lives on a farm. She thought he would be a great companion for her 25 YO horse. Unfortunately, even with the pin in his leg, he would chase the horse, grab his tail and hang on. The woman who adopted him was sure either the horse would run, fall and injure himself, or kick the dog, further injuring the broken leg. It was not a good match, so she brought him back."
I wasn't sure I wanted such a project, but he had that "take me home" look in his eye, so
I he adopted
him me.
The nice woman at the shelter said "Now he has that pin in his leg, so you have to keep him quiet"
Have any of you ever tried to keep an 18 month old Border Collie quiet? Ain't happening.......
The house Bandit (yes, I changed his name before we even got home, it just seemed more fitting after hearing the horse story) and I moved into, had a pool right behind the house. When we moved in, the cover was still on the pool.
Have I mentioned yet how much Bandit likes to chase tennis balls? I think we were still moving in, and Bandit brings me a ball while we were standing on the deck overlooking the pool. Without thinking much about it, I tossed the ball toward the pool........where it bounced on the cover, and over a small wall into the backyard. Bandit, of course, was right behind it. Down the steps, directly across the covered pool, and with one leap, over the wall into the back yard. Well, the wall is only about 18 inches high on the pool side but six feet high on the back yard side. My heart was in my stomach when I saw him go over the wall, but Bandit bounced right up, and came trotting back up the stairs with the ball, begging me to throw it again. So much for keeping him quiet! That's pretty much how it went for the next two months until I took him in to the Vet and had the pin taken out. I did try to keep him quiet, but fortunately he has a strong constitution and survived all the times I forgot.
I DID immediately begin training him to not chase cars.I read how to do it online, pretty simple process. He was pretty much ignoring them after about two weeks. Fortunately he lived in the backyard when not with me, so he wasn't tempted too much when off leash.
After the pin was taken out of his leg, I noticed that the formerly injured leg, was much thinner than his other rear leg. The muscles had atrophied due to him favoring that leg. What to do? Remember the swimming pool? And the tennis ball? Well, it turns out as much as they like to chase tennis balls, Border Collies are not natural swimmers. Bandit, however is a quick learner. Tennis ball in the pool. Bandit pulled into the pool on his leash, thrashing about (kinda like I still swim, but that's another story) for about two lengths of the pool, and then he's learned to swim like a champ. Since it was now well into spring, nice warm weather, the pool open, here became the arriving home from work drill: I would change into shorts, grab a beer, and sit, dangling my legs in the end of the pool with two tennis balls. I would toss the first ball to the end of the pool. Bandit would jump in, return to me with the ball in his mouth. As he got to me, I would toss the second ball to the end of the pool. Bandit would drop the second ball, go for the First. Repeat until one of us got tired,(
usually always me). He soon could easily do over 30 laps without tiring. Within a short amount of time the right leg was just as strong as the left. He was also very good with the deer. Loves to chase them away.
Bandit is now about 8 years old, and has never shown any signs of problems with that leg. I give him Glucosamine every day, just in case. We have moved from the house with the pool, but now he has a river to swim in, and a buddy to swim with. You do know you should never swim without a buddy, right? Right? Didn't you ever go to summer camp?
The story of Tye, Bandit's swimming buddy, to come later.
