Their 7-year-old Border collie, Katie, was no longer in the room.
September 22, 2019 4:12 PM   Subscribe

She Quit Her Job. He Got Night Goggles. They Searched 57 Days for Their Dog. A couple combed a rural Montana community for their Border collie, Katie. [SLNYT]
posted by hippybear (36 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
I wonder how k8t's cat is doing.
posted by zamboni at 4:21 PM on September 22, 2019 [5 favorites]


According to that thread k8t's cat is at home. Or was when the thread closed. I have no idea about now, 7 years later.
posted by hippybear at 4:34 PM on September 22, 2019


We move into a new house in a month and are finally getting another dog. We happened across the local rescue shelter’s stall at a local market today. They had a border collie puppy. So that decision suddenly becomes easier.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 4:43 PM on September 22, 2019 [7 favorites]


Our own danhon has been tweeting photos captioned with this headline this afternoon, to my Dada delight.
posted by cortex at 4:56 PM on September 22, 2019 [15 favorites]


This one of those articles where I skim to the end to find out if they found the dog or not. It makes me worry if my attitude goes beyond ADHD into a lack of human fellowship. But at least they did have a dog.
posted by happyroach at 5:12 PM on September 22, 2019 [4 favorites]


I think it speaks to your abundance of dog fellowship, and I salute you.
posted by jesourie at 5:55 PM on September 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


OMG The NYTimes won't let me read the story. DID THEY FIND THE DOG????
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:33 PM on September 22, 2019 [4 favorites]


SPOILERS: Yes, they found the dog!
posted by reductiondesign at 6:54 PM on September 22, 2019 [28 favorites]


Buy This Newspaper Or We'll Schroedinger's Cat This Dog
posted by cortex at 7:08 PM on September 22, 2019 [56 favorites]


If incognito/private browsing doesn’t work for NYT links, Glomar response suggests reader view in Safari. Works great for me.
posted by TedW at 7:09 PM on September 22, 2019 [3 favorites]


inflatablekiwi: I'm not a dog owner, but I know enough about dog breeds to know that border collies are a breed that requires a LOT of attention. They need puzzles to solve and are happiest when they have a job to perform (they are herding dogs). If you don't have that kind of commitment to your dog ownership (google around for more information about what it takes to own a border collie), then select a different breed.

Even if I were a dog owning type of person, that would be the exact opposite of amount of energy to put into a pet than I would want.
posted by hippybear at 7:12 PM on September 22, 2019 [12 favorites]


If incognito/private browsing doesn’t work for NYT links

I keep multiple browsers on my desktop for exactly the purpose of running out of monthly articles on one and then moving to another to read from there. It's still only a few articles a month, but it's more than given with just a primary browser.
posted by hippybear at 7:13 PM on September 22, 2019 [4 favorites]


SPOILERS: Yes, they found the dog!

MORE SPOILERS: But not all of her!



(She had lost 15 pounds.)
posted by TedW at 7:14 PM on September 22, 2019 [11 favorites]


(but at today's exchange rates, that's basically no money at all!)

Wait, what?
posted by hippybear at 7:22 PM on September 22, 2019 [7 favorites]


You get your ass out there and YOU FIND THAT FUCKING DOG.
posted by pilot pirx at 8:29 PM on September 22, 2019 [3 favorites]


The dog's been found. My ass will not get out there. Thank you very much for your encouragement.
posted by hippybear at 8:32 PM on September 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


inflateablekiwi: seconding what hippybear said above. Border collies are the most amazing dogs (seriously) but you have to give them a lot of attention/direction and a lot of space -- i.e. a field to run in, and preferably sheep or kids to herd. Please don't get this dog thinking that you can keep it cooped at home all day and then walk it for 30 minutes (or less!) in the evening. The poor thing will literally go insane.
posted by intermod at 9:02 PM on September 22, 2019 [5 favorites]


A colleague once mentioned he had a Border Collie and thought it was a rather placid kind of dog, pretty easy to look after. It turns out his daughter runs a half-marathon with the dog every second day, and a longer run on the weekends ...
posted by nickzoic at 10:51 PM on September 22, 2019 [36 favorites]


Do I really want a border collie?
One might wonder why the border collie is in the rescue pen.

A great dog to own when you have some dozens of acres and some farm animals that need herding...
posted by Thella at 11:42 PM on September 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


(Maybe we could not.pile on with the 'we're sure you haven't thought this dog through' advice and assumptions?)

Was so glad I read the caption on the first picture so I knew the story would turn out well from the start.
posted by lesbiassparrow at 11:47 PM on September 22, 2019 [9 favorites]


I'm pretty sure herding Tiny Croft would be perfectly suited to a Border Collie. She's running both me and my wife into an early grave.

What's a good backup breed to take over for the Border Collie when it's tuckered out?
posted by Naberius at 4:57 AM on September 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


What's a good backup breed to take over for the Border Collie when it's tuckered out?

The ones you find at the shelter or via rescue groups.
posted by terrapin at 5:25 AM on September 23, 2019


"Border collies are the most amazing dogs (seriously) but you have to give them a lot of attention/direction and a lot of space -- i.e. a field to run in, and preferably sheep or kids to herd."

My parents had a Sheltie (which is quite similar to a collie, also a herder and similar looks, though smaller and independently bred) and it loved herding toddlers around the backyard (and toddlers loved being herded and trying to make a break for it), but we had to put her upstairs for parties because she would tirelessly herd party guests until they were all in one room like good sheep. She was a very polite dog so she didn't bark, she just would circle and herd and block exit points to urge people into a single room where she could keep an eye on all of them at once.

(Easier to tire out than collies, largely because their legs are shorter, so you can wear them out at a fast walk instead of a full-on jog.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:56 AM on September 23, 2019 [17 favorites]


We are currently between dogs (mostly because I drew a line in the sand with my wife - you can start grad school and three jobs, or you can get a puppy, BUT NOT BOTH) so she's looking after her boss's border collie mix a couple times a week. We live down the street, so it's super easy, and my wife loves having dog time, but my God, this dog needs two and a half HOURS of outdoor time/running/training a day to stay sane, according to her owner. Fortunately, she is actually a farm dog and has a whole orchard to hunt varmints in, so it's possible, but during the busy season, her owner really, really needs the extra hand.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:32 AM on September 23, 2019


I wonder... if that much fully-engaged time is what a border collie needs, how much do we need?
posted by amtho at 6:52 AM on September 23, 2019 [7 favorites]


In my wife's case, at least double that. I, on the other hand, am more of a mastiff. A little excitement for ten minutes twice a week is fine.
posted by restless_nomad at 7:51 AM on September 23, 2019 [4 favorites]


Oh lord, mastiffs. I've mentioned my mastiff story in the past.
posted by Naberius at 7:56 AM on September 23, 2019 [3 favorites]


At one point my kids were 1, 2 and 3. My neighbors had 5 kids under 7. When we went to the park, we could have used a border collie to herd those kids. We were constantly running off to get the one that got away. My kids would have screamed with delight at being herded by a pup pup.

So glad they found her. It is a story of dedication, love and persistence.
posted by AugustWest at 9:13 AM on September 23, 2019 [2 favorites]


Disappearing (and reappearing!) cat story:

Last December our cat, apparently fully living her "I'm a teenager now (in human years!), I'm gonna run away from home" dreams, got outside sometime in the birthday + holiday chaos (our youngest turned 4 before Christmas, then it was Christmas) and we didn't notice. We felt awful, wandering around our neighborhood in the cold. We assumed she'd come back any time.

She didn't. I joined Nextdoor just to post about our lost cat. I posted on a Facebook lost and found animals group. Some look-alike cats were seen, but they came by and left, and those sightings were pretty far away, so we weren't sure if they were even her. Then there was minor blizzard (inches of snow, not feet), but it mostly melted off. We assumed she was adopted by another family (positive thinking!) but worried she was eaten by a coyote (realistic thinking?).

Then it was January, and school was about to start again. Tuesday morning, first day of school. I opened the back door to let our doggo out. MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!

She was back! Skinnier than before, but very much alive, even after being gone more than a week, in winter. I took her to the vet to make sure she was OK, and she was fine. She has gained back her lost weight, and she's snuck out a few more times since, but we scold her and get her back inside.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:20 AM on September 23, 2019 [5 favorites]


She was a very polite dog so she didn't bark, she just would circle and herd and block exit points to urge people into a single room where she could keep an eye on all of them at once.

My dog (a border blend) does that exactly! He's not a brave dog, so he does sometimes bark at dogs and moving cargo bikes (?) and horses and cows. Maybe I told this already, but once I accidentally had him off-leash in a meadow with sheep. I hadn't seen the sheep, and my first thought was that I was about to become the new Fenton person. But nope, he just herded them together like a good dog, and waited for my order. Which was here. Once in a dog park, he ran along with a group of unruly dogs chasing a deer, but he rapidly found out it was about hunting, not herding, and he returned before I even got to calling him. Not a drop of hunting instinct in his blood. And he (almost) never strays either. (He fell in love with a red-headed girl at one time, and he really struggled with that).
Since my dog is a mix, I am no authority on Border Collies, but I'd say most of all mine needs training, and he loves it too. He's seven now, and he still loves learning. It's not so much the physical challenge as it is the mental challenge he needs, and that is even as the other parts of him are probably bigger sheep dogs, like German Shepherd. I walk him about 1 1/2 hour a day, a bit less if I go to a big dog park where he can really run. I could probably train the barking at other animals out of him if I really focused for a while, and I've almost gotten rid of the barking at cargo bikes.
posted by mumimor at 10:29 AM on September 23, 2019


Disappearing (and reappearing!) cat story:

I grew up on a farm with a couple dozen cats (it was a big farm), and this sort of thing was pretty common with the males in particular.

We had one cat who vanished not long after his fifteenth birthday, and we'd just assumed that age and statistics had finally caught up with him. Fifteen is a pretty good run for an indoor/outdoor cat after all.

And then, FIVE YEARS LATER he just showed back up like nothing had ever happened. He was pretty skinny and all matted from being a long hair cat wandering around in the countryside, but perfectly happy and healthy. He lived another four or five years past that. Pretty astonishing longevity for midwestern winters outdoors, but cats will surprise you.
posted by Morriscat at 10:54 AM on September 23, 2019 [8 favorites]


Our border collie/lab cross turned me into a runner. But at various points when I've been injured, I've biked with him. The first time I tried this, he seemed all right with the bike when I first got on before we started moving. But within 5-10 feet, his herding instincts kicked in, and he started giving his distinctive "herding bark" at it, as he ran in front trying to slow the bike from trying to get away.

Fortunately, it only took about 5 minutes to get him to give up on herding and just enjoy the running.
posted by nobeagle at 10:55 AM on September 23, 2019 [4 favorites]


The descriptions of herding dogs in this thread are so innately pleasing as if how I would imagine a herding-dog-person who walked on two legs and got the best "sort of herding but not really" job they could manage would feel reading about herding dogs. Like gosh it just sounds so pleasing and so right, just gently nudging and sorting and putting things where we know they belong and being rewarded for doing a good job and knowing exactly what's expected of you and being ready and happy to do it and running around in big green beautiful fields etc. How good but heartbreaking it feels to picture how things are supposed to be that can never be.
posted by bleep at 1:00 PM on September 23, 2019 [6 favorites]


Oh Lord, Border Collies... they are, ahem, special. Well, ours is, anyway.

Let me see: the endless hassling to get someone to play with his tennis ball ("Hey, it's dawn, time to play!"); the howling (he runs round the house squeaking various toys and howling like a wolf the whole time); the separation anxiety when we're out as a family and one of us leaves the group; and the hair, oh my god, the hair. I have never, ever, come across an animal that sheds hair like this one. We could start a business stuffing cushions, and I'm rather embarassed about the amount of collie hair floating around my high-tech workplace.

But he's a very sweet dog, highly obedient, loves people and other dogs, and is afraid of sheep, which is rather handy when out for walks in the country.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 1:18 PM on September 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


Tina is doing just fine! 🐈
posted by k8t at 6:47 PM on September 23, 2019 [15 favorites]


Yay! Are the pictures still on line anywhere, k8t? I was sad that none of the flickr links in the AskMe worked anymore, I wanted to see Tina's cave!
posted by tavella at 8:45 PM on September 23, 2019 [3 favorites]


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