DOGS: ‘Worth ten guys on horseback’

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always has his trusty dog, Kit, to help. Kit is a four year old Border Collie and Australian Shepard mix. “I can’t be in three places at once, but with her, I can at least be in two places,” Holt stated.

He got Kit at eight weeks old and has trained her to work cattle. “You’re supposed to wait until they’re a year old before you expose them to cows,” Holt explained. He did a lot of training and teaching commands before he took her out to work. “I made her lay down before she got food and we practiced staying put throughout the day. Having that control in place was really important when we got to the cattle part.”

Gathering cattle requires the dog to go away from the handler and around the critter to trail it back. They have to know their directions left and right and be able to slow down or stop. “I use ‘come by’ to signal left and ‘away’ to go right,” Holt explained. “Kit also knows ‘down’ and ‘here’ so I can call her off.” Morrison simply uses “left,” “right” and “stop” for her dogs. “I talk to them like I would talk to a person,” she said.

After years of training, a working dog can do more complicated tasks with cattle. “If I needed to, I could tell Kit to lay down from a quarter mile away,” Holt said. “As long as she can hear me, I have control of her.”

One particular time, Holt needed Kit to take over and finish a job for him. They were gathering steers along the river bottom while another cowboy

was pushing the cattle down from the top. “My horse went to jump across the river and fell and pinned me under the water,” Holt said. His horse finally got up and took off running to the top of the pasture. “Kit had to keep pushing the steers for me while I walked up and got my horse. Without her I would’ve had to start all over.”

One of the benefits of using dogs on the ranch is that they can take the place of several people. Holt says, “A good dog is worth ten guys on horseback. You don’t have to hire help.”

Not only are dogs a useful tool to work cattle, they make great companions. “They’re your best friend. They go with you everywhere and are happy to do anything, no matter the weather or the job,” Morrison said.

Regardless of what technology might be invented tomorrow, nothing else will be able to get a sour bull out from under the trees or cross a boggy creek to fetch a wild steer. A good working dog is irreplaceable on the ranch.

Meghan G’Schwind Pictured above, a crew of cowboys make a plan before gathering the cattle out of a pasture with the help of Kit. Even with several riders, a dog is a helpful asset in big pastures of the Sandhills.

Courtesy Above, Baily Holt and his trusty dog, Kit, ride out to gather cows in the fall. Even if Holt doesn’t need Kit for the job, they are always together. She will stay beside him until he tells her otherwise.

Courtesy Kit, left, and Peach, right, are along for the ride to feed cows. They help bring any stragglers to the pickup and are ready to go in any weather.