Lessons from the Border Collie Lady

When we would take Moree and to the dog park, his goal was never to socialize, not with people or other dogs, or even play fetch. He simply wanted to run. That was the entire purpose. He wanted to run, and better yet, to run with Smokey at his side.  If there was a ruckus somewhere over there that Smokey wanted to check out, Moree would simply heard him in the direction of open space. Moree also did not want to be petted or admired by strangers either and would make sure to do last minute jukes around any person with a hand out to pet him.

Except in one case- we called her the border collie lady. She always came to the park with a pack of border collies and aussies. She never had less than five with her, and sometimes more. Moree would run right up to her, eager for some pets, and then happily run around with her dogs. (Granted, her dogs weren’t interested in “playing”, they were interested in taking turns herding each other.)

We commented on this to her one time. She simply smiled and said “They know the people who love them.”

I think of this frequently when I go up to random strangers and ask to pet their pit. The person may give me funny looks, but the dog always responds with head butts and kisses. You see, they know the people who love them.