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by Chick

Our neighbor's dog, a border collie, definitely had all the genes and know-how that a dog of that breed has, although he had never been trained to do any of the work that they do. Instinctively he would immediately round up all the barn cats that were living on the property and herd them back into the barn where he figured they should be. Everything had to be in its place as he saw fit. Sometimes he was not too gentle in doing his round-up and made sure the cats understood that he was the boss.

He did have a gentle side to him, however. One day he discovered about three baby bunnies only a day or so old. The bunnies' mother had been killed somehow. Very gently he took each bunny in his mouth and brought it under the porch to care for each of them. He tried his best for days to do what he could for the bunnies and would not leave them even to eat.

Unfortunately, the bunnies eventually all died and the border collie moped around for days feeling that he had failed. Eventually he came out of his sadness. Animals do have many of the same feelings that humans do!

Chick lives in Minnesota and is a member of Beyond Indigo.