Check out this photo. Does this dog remind you of another you once knew? If you've ever visited us in Columbus, you'll know the answer. Of course it isn't the late departed Monty, but it sure looks like him! This is Ruby, a mixed border collie/lurcher and we've been looking after her for a couple of weeks. Needless to say, with that mix she has immense energy and stamina. We've been taking her for long walks, but we can't tire her out. When we go up on the hills she runs up and down them as if they were flat while we're puffing and blowing and staggering about.
Here she is, hiding in a stream, waiting to run after the stick at John's feet. She can run as fast as we can throw it! As we walk along, she'll grab the stick and run ahead. Then she'll drop it and hide till we come by. Sometimes she lets us pick it up and throw it, sometimes she'll burst out of the undergrowth, grab it and run on ahead. The only times she drops the stick are when you get the lead out and she realises she has to get leashed up, or when she gets the scent of rabbit - if that happens she takes off and can run from one hilltop to the next in no time flat! Mostly she keeps us in sight and will eventually come back when she's looked in every rabbit hole on the hillside!
Fortunately, she doesn't chase sheep as the hills are full of ewes with lambs. To the left is a pair we came across on one of our walks.Ruby does like lying in streams and this is a bit of a problem as she is in and out of our stream all day. She'll swim too, if you throw a stick in a pool and she's not averse to a good wallow in a stinking mud puddle, either!
We were only supposed to have her for a week, but she is such a darling that we asked to keep her for another few days. She is a lot like Monty in her looks, but she's got her own personality and behaviours and she's made us both very happy. I haven't heard so much laughter about the house for a long time.
