A Heart Wrapped in Fur

My kids and I drove up to a farm in the East Bay hills with our 8 month old Briard puppy, Brodie. We were going to find out if he would pass a herding instinct test, which would qualify him to start herding lessons.

We were all making guesses whether he would pass. My son was convinced he would not. My daughter was on the fence, and I was optimistic that he would pass. Besides the fact that he thinks it’s his job to try to herd our two cats at home, I’d also noticed a strong sense of geometry in how he positions himself at all times, and I’d never seen this in any dog before. Whenever he rests in the house, he chooses the spot where he can be most equidistant from all his people, and also keep an eye on the door. When he chases a tennis ball, instead of running straight towards it, he takes an angle that would work perfectly for chasing an errant sheep.

We arrived at the farm and met the trainer. She explained that we’d be looking for his natural, untrained reactions to the sheep. Brodie saw the sheep in the pen and stood there calmly. I wondered if he might not get into it after all. The trainer invited us into the pen to start the test.

Although I grew up on a farm and would love to live on a farm again someday, we have no practical use for sheep herding in our current suburban Silicon Valley life. Yet, here I was going out of my way to take Brodie sheep herding. And I wasn’t the only one. Another dog mom had driven an hour from San Francisco with a sweet pup that was also her endurance running sidekick. A dog dad and his parents had come for an instinct test for his lanky black pup, and awaited their turn too. An owner of a Border Collie had just finished in the pen; she had been doing this for years.

Brodie entered the pen and sized up the sheep. He immediately went to work circling them. After a few minutes the trainer said that he had already shown plenty of instinct to pass. When a sheep broke away from the herd, he chased it and brought it back. The trainer said he was getting the hang of it very quickly.

He was so delighted. He was so in his element. And I realized what I came here for and why I did this even though it’s far from practical. There is something just so beautiful about a creature or a person doing what they are made to do. I feel that if only all of us, animals and humans, could live even a little more of our days in this state of flow, how it magnifies our aliveness.

We finished the session and got a certificate detailing his herding style, and came home with a tired but happy pup and plans to go back.

With a long coat and a regal bearing, Brodie somehow looks adorably goofy and magnificent at the same time. People have compared him to Chewbacca, a llama, a lion, and a big fluffy puppet. He’s been an ambassador of sorts, causing many people to stop and talk with me since he came into my life 5 months ago. These small connections light up my day in an entirely new way.

The Briard is known as “a heart wrapped in fur.” Brodie is all heart, courage, and devotion- I feel grateful that he’s part of my life.

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