November 19, 2018 by Woolly Muses

Wits-End-Weekly-Prompt-Four-Legged-Friends

My best ever four legged friend…Brandy pup, circa Christmas 1988 / January 1989.

He wasn’t much older before he began to work sheep for me.

He worked so well that I called him

my Six Million Dollar Dog…after the television show.

Then he took command of the ute and

would sit and wait for hours.

Teaching the new chum how to behave on a truck!

I think this is Zoe…not brandy’s pup.

He only ever sired one litter and died

about two weeks after they were born.

From that litter I kept Ginger who died,

as suddenly as Brandy did, in 2015

Both Brandy and Ginger would ‘sing’ (howl) on cue,

although Ginger was harder to start and keep going.

She was a little princess.

Father and daughter were around for 26 years combined….

so definitely four-legged friends.

~~~~~

Wits End Weekly Prompt: Four-Legged-Friends

October 17, 2017 by Woolly Muses

Pic-and-Word-Challenge_Wk109_Steadfast

~~~~~

Week 109

Steadfast

I Googled the meaning of ‘steadfast’ for inspiration,

and found

resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.

Synonyms:

loyal, faithful, committed, devoted, dedicated, dependable,

reliable, steady, true, constant, staunch, trusty.

Now at the risk of boring readers all I could think of

was dear old Brandy.

From the day I brought him home…

until he became the master and was

teaching his apprentice, he was

all of those definitions of steadfast to me.

~~~~~

Pic and Word Challenge: Steadfast

September 1, 2017 by Woolly Muses

Travel Theme-Animal-Companions

~~~~~

My

Animal Companions

Travel Theme.

~~~~~

My companions through the years.

Brandy, December 1988.

Around eight or nine years later

Brandy had an off-sider to train.

Her name was Zoe.

Brandy’s daughter, Ginger, was born early September 2001.

Ginger was one of Brandy’s only litter of pups,

that we know of, and she was born

about three weeks before Brandy died.

Ginger would sing with some persuasion,

just like Brandy.

Well…almost!

Ginger became a nervous wreck when she had a bone.

She would spend hours trying to find a safe place to bury it.

All the while Labrador, Maggie,

quietly watched from afar,

and then dug it up when a tired Ginger

decided to have a snooze.

Who would have thought Ginger would be dead

only a matter of days after this shot was taken?

Then about 18 months ago, early 2016,

along came Candi,

courtesy Number 2 Son and Daughter-in-law.

Candi will never work sheep, however,

she has some other talents I have

never seen in a sheep dog.

She runs with the flight of the rope

and still manages to catch it.

~~~~~

Where’s My Backpack: Animal-Companions

~~~~~

January 20, 2017 by Woolly Muses

DISCOVER CHALLENGE17_0112_Greatest-Workmate-in-the-World

Greatest Workmate in the World

In December 1988 a neighbour asked if I wanted a pup.

The smallest pup in the little came running over,

launched itself onto my boot and remained there.

He was named Brandy by MGW.

It wasn’t long before Brandy was working a small mob of sheep

and responding very well to training.

Brandy (left) and Molly

He grew to love the back of my utility and would wait faithfully for me.

He also turned into a ‘one man/person dog’.

One day the rams came into our backyard and MGW

let Brandy off to round them up and put them

back through the gate, which is just left of shot.

She still tells the story of how he sat on the back of the ute,

or under a tree watched her huff and puff for the half hour

it took to turn the rams out through this oh so close gate!

He would have had them rounded up

in 30 seconds had I been home…and MGW knew that.

Brandy and a young Zoe

I still call Brandy my $6,000,000 dog.

He would work in the paddocks mustering sheep.

He would work in the yards.

He would also work the woolshed.

I had never had a dog as good as that,

and it is not often dogs are as versatile preferring

one area over the others.

He only ever sired one litter of pups of which Ginger,

who was mentioned frequently on this blog

until her death in October 2015, was one.

Brandy was a couple of months short of his 13th birthday

when he died in 2001.

A true candidate for

Greatest Workmate in the World

title

~~~~

DP_Discover Challenge: Greatest-in-the-World

June 29, 2013 by Woolly Muses

Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Companionable

I was very pleased to see that the Weekly Photo Challenge was “Companionable”, this morning.

For those of us who are old enough to remember the television show “The Six Million Dollar Man”…… I give you….

~~~~~

…my Six Million Dollar dog, or pup in this case. He had to earn his name. When I was offered a pup, from a litter of about ten. He ran up to me as I arrived and that was that. He was christened “Brandy” by my wife and from late 1988 until a sad Sunday morning in September 2001….where I went, Brandy went.

~~~~~

About 1996, Brandy suffered an eye infection which necessitated him being locked in the wool shed (the darkest place I could find) and to have his eye medicated at least twice a day. The greatest indignity was the bucket he had to wear so he could not scratch, or irritate, his eye during that time. This was to earn him the nickname, “Buckethead”. What else could it be?

~~~~~

About three weeks before Brandy passed onto a world without sheep to chase, he became a “dad” for the first time. At least the first time I was aware of. Once again in this tribe of six puppies there was one who would always ‘ferret’ her way through her litter mates to be next to my body when they were small enough to nurse all six on my knees.

~~~~~

She was christened “Ginger” and is still with us today. Her eye sight is not as good as it was, but she never fails to bound down the drive and twist herself inside out as she greets me upon arriving home from work.

Ginger’s life has been much easier than her father’s. She has not had the responsibility of working, but she has extended my memories of Brandy and created some of her own for me. Both father and daughter are both of a similar, small, build for their breed and they are/were both ‘my’ dogs. In my sixty plus years I have only had one other canine companion who ran a distant third to Brandy and Ginger.

~~~~~

My favourite.

After being a stressful baby, Number 2, and I often were out and about the farm together as he enjoyed (still does) socialising and ‘helping’ at a very young age.

Sadly, as with many children, he was kidnapped about 10 years ago, by the “Teens”. But if I can pre-book, about a week in advance, and remind him every day of that week, he will still help his dear old dad…….occasionally.

~~~~~

Weekly Photo Challenge: Companionable (dailypost.wordpress.com)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Companionable (marilyndavies.wordpress.com)
Weekly Photo Challenge : Companionable (momentsinyourlife.wordpress.com)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Companionable (scottseyephotos.wordpress.com)
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Companionable (Bee & Flower) (skpfoto.com)
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Companionable (ryanphotography.co.uk)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Companionable | Four of Them (inkartourheart.wordpress.com)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Companionable, Take Two (merayer.wordpress.com)

~~~

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My best ever four legged friend…Brandy pup, circa Christmas 1988 / January 1989.

He wasn’t much older before he began to work sheep for me.

He worked so well that I called him

my Six Million Dollar Dog…after the television show.

Then he took command of the ute and

would sit and wait for hours.

Teaching the new chum how to behave on a truck!

I think this is Zoe…not brandy’s pup.

He only ever sired one litter and died

about two weeks after they were born.

From that litter I kept Ginger who died,

as suddenly as Brandy did, in 2015

Both Brandy and Ginger would ‘sing’ (howl) on cue,

although Ginger was harder to start and keep going.

She was a little princess.

Father and daughter were around for 26 years combined….

so definitely four-legged friends.

~~~~~

Share this:

Like this:

~~~~~

Week 109

Steadfast

I Googled the meaning of ‘steadfast’ for inspiration,

and found

Synonyms:

Now at the risk of boring readers all I could think of

was dear old Brandy.

From the day I brought him home…

until he became the master and was

teaching his apprentice, he was

all of those definitions of steadfast to me.

Share this:

Like this:

My

Animal Companions

Travel Theme.

My companions through the years.

Brandy, December 1988.

Around eight or nine years later

Brandy had an off-sider to train.

Her name was Zoe.

Brandy’s daughter, Ginger, was born early September 2001.

Ginger was one of Brandy’s only litter of pups,

that we know of, and she was born

about three weeks before Brandy died.

Ginger would sing with some persuasion,

just like Brandy.

Well…almost!

Ginger became a nervous wreck when she had a bone.

She would spend hours trying to find a safe place to bury it.

All the while Labrador, Maggie,

quietly watched from afar,

and then dug it up when a tired Ginger

decided to have a snooze.

Who would have thought Ginger would be dead

only a matter of days after this shot was taken?

Then about 18 months ago, early 2016,

along came Candi,

courtesy Number 2 Son and Daughter-in-law.

Candi will never work sheep, however,

she has some other talents I have

never seen in a sheep dog.

She runs with the flight of the rope

and still manages to catch it.

~~~~~

Share this:

Like this:

Greatest Workmate in the World

In December 1988 a neighbour asked if I wanted a pup.

The smallest pup in the little came running over,

launched itself onto my boot and remained there.

He was named Brandy by MGW.

It wasn’t long before Brandy was working a small mob of sheep

and responding very well to training.

He grew to love the back of my utility and would wait faithfully for me.

He also turned into a ‘one man/person dog’.

One day the rams came into our backyard and MGW

let Brandy off to round them up and put them

back through the gate, which is just left of shot.