Hi folks,

I really hate this news but I lost my sassy little 8 month old Texas Heeler, Miss Daisy Jane to an irresponsible and inconsiderate idiot that I guess calls himself a sportsman. Someone had discarded the carcass of their deer kill on the side of the road near my home, I live way out in the middle of nowhere. With literally miles of empty roads and thousands of acres of undeveloped forest about, this butt head dumps the carcass a few hundred feet from my driveway.

I had let the little hussy out to burn off some nervous energy and do her business before we all bedded down for the night. Since we live several hundred feet form the road it is not usually an issue as my dogs do not chase cars and generally are discouraged from the road. When she did not return in a timely manner, about 20 minutes, I went looking for her and found her dead on the side of the road. The fresh carcass was to tempting for her I guess. I suspect a local miner late for work was flying down the road as usual since it was near shift change time and they use my road as a shortcut.

I have been posting this in a lot places and harping on the issue to everyone I see since it happened last Friday night. Somewhat because I guess it is my way of handling the grief and somewhat to let as many people as possible know what the consequences of irresponsible actions can be. In the end of course I blame myself. I let myself get distracted and did not notice the time or the fresh carcass. This may seem silly for some to be this upset over a dog. Before I had Daisy fall into my life I may have agreed with you. Today though I am a 51 year old man with a crushed heart. This sassy little hussy woke me every daybreak with a tap of her paw and met me at my truck door very evening for the last few months ready to play.

For anyone who lives in a rural area and is in the market for a new best friend you can do no better than a Texas Heeler. What is a Texas Heeler? They are a mix of Australian Shepard and an Australian Queensland Cattle Dog (otherwise known as Red or Blue Heelers). These are the smartest dogs I have ever seen and they are loyal and protective to the extreme. They ARE NOT the dog for the city dweller or suburbia as they are very high energy and need space and freedom to run it off. They ARE NOT a hands off dog, none should be anyway, but these dogs will get into trouble in heartbeat without attention. But if you have a country place, especially if you have large animals like cattle, sheep, swine or horses that you need help with they are perfect. It is amazing the respect a forty pound Heeler will get from a ton of steer.

A gotcha on these dogs is that you have to remind yourself over and over they are a dog. No kidding they are so smart and energetic and have very sassy and independent personality's plus extremely expressive facial features that is is too easy to treat them like a person. Of course you do any dog a disservice in such because they are dogs and have the nature of a hunter, scavenger and pack animal. I failed Daisy in as yet another way when I let her seemingly human like intelligence fool me into simply putting too much faith in her ability and ignored the insufficient level of training and gave her too much freedom at only eight months of age.

I am not a rancher, just a country boy come home from the city and I just wanted a companion and a friend. I had the best one ever for a while, and as soon as my heart mends some I will find myself another little Texas Heeler or two. I promise I will take better care of them the next time. And while I may from time to time forget they are just a dog as we play Frisbee, tug-a-war, rope-a-dope or find the treat, I will do my best to not forget what they need from me in return for their loyal companionship is to be their pack leader first.

Sadly
Matthew