Dog Gone

Our farm was about 250 acres, and we rented another 250 acres. It included a piece of the Lac Qui Parle River that flowed through Western Minnesota. The farm was situated around the Lac Que Parle River, with some sixty acres of land “dedicated” to open woods and a portion dedicated to pasture. An electric fence circumscribed the pasture; part of the pasture was on one side of the river, and a small portion was on the other.

We lived in Minnesota, and winter was winter with lots of snow, ice, and cold. When the spring came, all this ice and snow solids were converted to liquid, resulting, in many cases, a flooding of the river. One of the results of this flooding was the electric fence across the river was washed away. So we had to string a new wire across the river every spring. Queenie (a German Shepard) and Ginger (a golden retriever, later) were enlisted to re-string the wire. Requirements:

• A roll of twine (quite a bit) longer than the river is wide.
• A length of wire longer than the river is wide.
• One shnurd (a farm dog in non-Scandihuvian parlance).
• One caller of the dog on the far side (drive around over a bridge to the other side and then walk down to the river).
• One sender of the dog with twine, wire, and schnurd.

The sender of the dog would tie the twine to the dog’s collar and meter out the twine. The caller would call the dog across the river. The river at this time was flooded, fast-moving, and very cold. Of course, the dog jumped in and proceeded to swim to the other side. The current would take her down the river, but with vigorous swimming and keeping the twine high enough to stay out of the river, the dog made it across. Many “good girl” and “good dog,” some extra food, and a ride in the pickup back to the house was the reward. The twine was connected to the wire and was pulled across and then connected to the fence on the other side to make the electric connection. A second wire was then pulled across and set a foot or two above the river to prevent swimming cows from escaping down the river. We were good to go until next year’s flood and the dog had earned its keep for another year.