Pooch Power

I read a heartwarming story today.

{Image courtesy of CSIRO, Australia}

There is an island off the south coast of Australia that had an endangered colony of fairy penguins. Some sheepdogs were brought in to protect the little fellows from feral animals. And they did an excellent job. The colony is thriving. You can read about it here.

This story reminded me of a similar story from my childhood and made me realise how intelligent and caring dogs can be towards littler creatures.

The Irish side of my family  has always had Border Collies on their farm. This dog was my Grandad’s favourite – Spring. Spring was one of the best dogs I have ever met. Highly intelligent, obedient, intuitive. Although he was 19 when he died and had a fantastic life, I still cry for him every now and then. He was one of those dogs that immediately filled you with confidence. My cousins and I would go on really long walks with him and not for an instant did we ever feel that anything bad would befall us.

One summer when the chicks had hatched, the foxes came.

If you ever want to know the true meaning of the expression having your heart in your mouth, you will know if it you are unfortunate enough to witness a clutch of those little balls of yellow fluff covered in blood. It is a horrible sight. My heart jumped straight into my mouth and stayed there. I didn’t know whether to scream or cry.

‘Don’t fret, don’t fret,’ said my Grandad. ‘Spring will sort it out.’

And Spring did sort it out. He guarded the remaining chicks day and night. They thrived under his care. I will never forget going out to get some herbs from the veggie patch one afternoon and seeing all of the chicks (about a dozen of them) curled up, sound asleep under Spring’s tail.

When the chicks were too old to snuggle with Spring anymore, he actually seemed to feel sad about it. He often looked over at the coop longingly as if thinking of the good old days.

I think we have more to learn from our dear animal friends than we could possibly know. If they can save fairy penguins and chicks, perhaps they could save other species too. It seems they are the natural guardians of the animal world!