Unfortunately we lost our little boy Scooter this summer and that loss was very tough to digest for me. He and Tess escaped the yard one night and went hunting. Tess made it home, Scooter did not. He was killed by a car about a mile from home.
He is the first dog I've ever lost this way and the weight on my shoulders from it has been tough to shake. He should never have gotten out, they should never have been that far from home, it just should not have happened.
But it did. Our dogs live on our farm, they work, they run, they hike with us. Each of these activities carries risk and we do our best to keep those risks at a minimum, but they are there. The two Borders hunted almost every day, they kept our farm and our neighbors farms free from groundhogs and fighting groundhogs can be a nasty business. Not only did they run the risk of being bitten, they went into holes, tree stumps and often would get off out of sight and lost for short periods of time. This was their life, this was their breeding and heritage, and they loved it.
This summer Scooter caught his first fox and in unbelievably short order put the end to it. It wasn't planned, and I didn't want him to do this- but a working BT is a deadly little dog. That fox walked across our path, Scooter saw him and that was that. Could it have been a dangerous situation for him? Of course, but that was what he did....
I'm guessing a fox is what brought our tragedy upon us. Of course I don't know for sure, but I think they saw, heard or smelled a fox in the yard that night and took off after it. While Scooter could have handled that fox, he had no way to fend off a car. His braveness brought him to his end.
I'm sorry little buddy, it wasn't fair, and we miss you terribly.
