I had an amazing dog who was at least half Australian Kelpie (but that half took over his soul). You may remember him. His name was Dexter.
Dexter spoke English, I swear. He understood everything. He also could unlock any door and jump ANY fence. He was an escape artist with an internal clock and GPS which allowed him to always come home by dinner. In his later life as an escape artist, he would just stop if he got tired of roaming… and whomever found him would call the number on his collar and I’d show up to collect him.
Dex was how we met most of our neighbors in Grass Valley! (Please don’t hammer us for not being able to keep him in. It was impossible. We fretted over him constantly. It wasn’t until he was gone that I realized how many maneuvers I did every day to make sure he stayed home.
Dex never hurt anyone or was hurt. Yes, we had an invisible fence, yes we had a 6′ cyclone kennel, yes he had a shock collar, yes he went to a special trainer… in the end, Dex was on a long lead atop a shady hill, which he loved. The problem with Dex, as most trainers told us, was the he was ‘a Kelpie’. Basically… they would all sigh and say that this would be the most incredibly amazing and incredibly frustrating dog I would own.
They were right.
Dexter lived to a ripe old age of 13.5 and is dearly missed. He was an amazing dog with an indisputable charm – and I credit that to his Australian Kelpie self.
This week, a video surfaced of 3 Australian Kelpies. This video so typified Dexter. I wanted to share.
WATCH THIS VIDEO – A PERFECT ILLUSTRATION OF KELPIES!
Click image to watch amazing video!
PICS OF DEX…
Some of you may remember Dexter. He passed when we lived in Grass Valley. He lived to be 13.5. Such a great, if not frustrating, dog. He is so missed.
Dex as a pup. He was always so confident. I found him at a shelter when we all lived in Oregon. He had a littermate and I had contemplated getting them both. I cannot imagine if I had… ai yai yai!
As a puppy in our Oregon house. Who could resist that face. One ear up,
A very mature Dex, with his huge smile. Always up to something…
Old man Dexter. Here he is in Grass Valley. As you can see, he wore many collars. All trying to keep him home. A lost cause. He wandered his whole life.
Just came across this while looking (again!) for ways to keep our Kelpie escape artist from… escaping. AGAIN. And you are so right about Kelpies! But we also have a McNab collie that actually looks more like your Dex boy. McNabs fall on a continuum from wild child to goody-four-paws. Ours is the latter, she even tries to keep the Kelpie from running away by grabbing his collar! Sometimes McNabs and Kelpies are also crossed to produce super-energetic, heat tolerant herding dogs. Dexter’s markings were classic McNab, also the feet. The type (not an official breed yet) hails from N. California and is a popular working dog all along the West Coast. Enjoy the memories and thanks for sharing.
Yup… thank you for this.
My first dog as an adult was a cross between a Kelpie & Blue Heeler Shelby was a handful and will be missed as long as I live. She was know for all kinds of mischief including digging through our kitchen floor to the basement when we left her home one day, opening the refrigerator, and herding our children when they were little.