I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff

On Sunday things were pretty quiet at our ranch. I was in North Portal and Estevan all morning leading worship, Russ, Morgan and our friend Lynn were dealing with a cow problem in the pasture that came up the day before. After Russ threw together a very fast lunch they headed to the Alameda area to help our friend Miles move a herd of his cows home. When I got home from Estevan our home was empty and quiet. I had lunch and a nap, a long nap. Like I said, our home was very quiet on Sunday. By 6pm Russ and Morg were back, I had found my way past my nap induced stupor and was making supper. It was in these moments that Russ challenged me, “guess who got “Dog of the Month” today! Just guess!” My first reaction was, “Russ, its only the 5th day of the month, dog of the month….already?!” He insisted that something so spectacular had happened that yes this was certainly dog of the month material.

Who earned DOG OF THE MONTH? It was Knightwing, our German Shepherd/Marama cross guard dog who loves to travel with the crew and do what they are doing when we let her. She loves to herd cattle.

Knightwing earned her award while working the McNeil cows. In those Sunday afternoon moments Miles witnessed Knightwing encounter a wolf. Miles’ description of the wolf is that it was big, as tall as his stirrups were from the ground. Knightwing caught sight of it and went in hot pursuit, she chased it away and followed it into some bushes. There was, at that point, some wondering, “will we ever see Knightwing again?” It didn’t seem wise to go off with such a potentially fierce creature. However, moments later, Knightwing reappeared, her work done. She had driven off that wolf, it was not to be seen again. We know that Knightwing rises to the challenge of coyotes regularly, often sinking her teeth into them, but to see her boldly protect her people and these cows from a wolf was new territory, not something Russell has ever seen. Through Miles’ recollection of the story Russ very readily made the declaration that Knightwing had earned “Dog of the Month” designation. Our wonder at this creature we have been entrusted with grew some more.

We hold Knightwing in our thoughts with alot of wonder for many reasons. She is the only dog we have that smiles. It really endears her to people.

Kightwing connects with people, she is our 90 year old friend Shirley’s favorite dog, I think because Shirley feels that Knightwing remembers and recognizes her from visit to visit and looks for her. No arrival at the ranch is complete until Shirley and Knightwing have connected. Knightwing is quite a needy dog. She loves belly rubs and her favorite place to ask for one is in the driveway, where she is supposed to be guard dog on duty. Knightwing needs lots and lots of sympathy in the winter. She sleeps outside in a dog house just outside our door. In the morning when Russ lets the Collies out to do their morning routine, Knightwing comes barreling into the house. She heads straight for our room where I am usually still in bed. She jumps straight onto the bed and buries herself as close to me as she can and starts talking. She whines and I listen, when its my turn to talk I ask her questions, I thank her for fighting off the coyotes, for braving the cold, I say, “poor Knightwing” and we go back and forth until she is done. I really love those moments.

The designation of Knightwing as dog of the month for her wolf fighting work came at an interesting time. In the morning, at church, I had brought some toys to help tell the Children’s story, these included a Shepherd, sheep, lambs and two wolves.

We were talking about how God is like a Shepherd who cares for us and protects us and leads us to places where we can find what we need. As we thought about the menacing wolf that was set up a little ways away from the “herd” a little three year old girl whispered under her breath “I’ll huff and I’ll puff”, we ran with that a bit. We tried to see if I could be a wolf and blow the Shepherd and sheep down, nope I couldn’t. The wolf did not prevail.

In 24 years of living in ranch country I have had cause to think about wolves so very seldom I want to say “never.” I am therefore a little bit fascinated that on this one day these two stories lined up. When Russ told me about our “dog of the month”, I knew I wanted to blog about it and tell you readers.

I want to probe one more thing. I find myself wondering if Knightwing illustrates something important. She is wired to need certain things. She just needs tummy rubs. She just needs to get to cry/talk/whine when her world is frosty. Her vulnerability, apparent weakness and need for compassion have not compromised her ability to be attentive and fierce, very fierce, when need be. I feel like our culture readily shames people for being vulnerable, for needing tenderness and touch, for needing compassionate conversation. Does Knightwing illustrate the possibility that we do our best with our life callings when we are seen, when at times we are encountered with tenderness and when sympathy is shared through compassionate conversation. Such realities have not ruined Knightwing and her calling to be fierce and protective when need be. Maybe they have made her that much more invested in doing her thing to protect her people, her cows, her Collie sisters. I don’t know but seeing Knightwing in action as both needy one and protector I am more invested than I was before in believing that the world is better, that we all do better, when we let ourselves truly see and respond to those who cross our path. I see you, you see me.