Rags gives me hugs

My boyfriend asked me if I wanted to go visit Rags and Nikki and I said yes. He wanted to go visit them so that we could let them out for some fresh air and to play with them. When we arrived, the dogs were locked in the room. Through the glass door you could see both of the dogs laying on the floor, pushing their snouts towards the door to get it to open as Nate unlocked the door. Rags had a look in his eyes. He as so happy to see us both... he knew it was play time. When we opened the door, the dogs stood there in the room, unsure if they were allowed to run out or to if they were supposed to stay in the room. Nate said, "Go ahead, get of here" in a playful manner and the dogs ran into the yard. Both Rags and Nikki are Border Collies and actual working dogs. They are trained to be shepherd dogs...half of the time they are usually running around rounding up grazing goats. Once you meet the dogs, you understand just how trained they really are. They are trained to disregard phrases like "Come here!" and instead respond to "Here to me." But Rags is a total goof ball. He doesn't care either way. He knows what I'm saying no matter what. I always just talk casually with him because it feels kind of weird to shout those commands. And that's why I love Rags, because he is the silliest dog. He has a certain look in his face, almost like he is always smiling and it's hilarious. I love Rags! He is the cutest boy around...his little feet are always caked in mud and he loves to give you "hugs" in which he jumps on to you with his front paws and literally gives you a hug. It's the cutest thing ever. It makes me melt every time. Every time I arrive at that house, and I see Rags, I whisper, "Give me a Hug" and he runs to me, jumps up and wraps his paws around my waist...and then stares up at me with a look of sheer delight. Nikki is nicknamed "Nervous Jervous"...he was bought from a training kennel for working Border Collies and was basically confined in a cage (while he wasn't busy being trained) for two years. When my friend brought him home, he was pretty antisocial and scared of everyone. He wasn't use to people, or being in a house, or hearing music, or seeing a t.v. I remember his first days at the house where so crazy. He would be so skiddish that he would literally skid 15 ft across the wooden floor in a millisecond and then run from a table top to the couch knocking over everything in sight. The combination of Nikki use to biting ankles (of the goats) and not feeling fully comfortable with lots of people is a bad mix. He has bitten Nate in the leg twice already, each time there was blood everywhere and giant bite marks in Nate's flesh. Almost six months has passed since then, and with lots of nurturing and attention, Nikki has turned into a handsome young fella. He is less nervous around people and actually likes getting caressed on the head.

But back to my story. After the door was opened, and Nikki and Rags were running around the yard, I noticed that Rags was running in circles. A typical behavior for a trained Border Collie with no work to do...sometimes this can make the dog act neurotic. Rags kept running in circles one after the other. After I started playing with Rags and giving him attention his circles escapade came to a full stop. At one point, Rags started growling at Nikki and they started biting each other on the nose. Which reminds me to note that when I let Rags out of the room, I noticed that his nose was bloody and all marked up. When the dogs are in confinement in the room for a prolonged period, this makes them get "cage crazy" and that's when the two of them start fighting.

Overall, visiting and observing both Nikki and Rags made me think a lot about the different range of behaviors the two dogs both exhibit when find themselves in different environments a.) locked up with no attention or human companion b.) running around the yard with their human companion around and c.) when they busy at work rounding up goats (which i haven't seen yet). Apparently, according to my friend and Nate, this is when they are the happiest. He says that they actually get kind of sad when there is no work to be done. All of this made me think about how certain dogs were breed specifically for a reason sometimes...usually because they have a useful or desirable trait whether it be that they are good at rounding up a flock of sheep or that they are stylishly small like those miniature dogs that can fit a purse. I would like to learn more about the history of breeding dogs because I don't know much about it. It would be interesting to trace the origins and development of dog breeding, and see how it came about and changed over time. I know that personally, I feel weird ever yelling out commands to the dogs even though I'm told that it's the proper thing to do with well trained dogs like these so that you don't confuse them. It's strange. I don't know what to think about "working dogs" really because I don't know much about their specific breed or the history of physiologically manipulating or changing the outcome of a particular breed. So I think it's pretty complicated and I'm not going there. haha. But basically all we need to know is that Rags and Nikki are super adorable!