Today is a special occasion, so instead of my usual rant against government planning, I am going to indulge myself with a personal shout-out of Happy Birthday! to my good friend and companion, Chip. Chip happens to be a Belgian Tervuren, one of several sheepherding breeds from (and named after towns in) Belgium, and I like to think Chip is one of the more remarkable dogs in his breed.
Click on any photo for a larger view.
Tervs are not a well-known breed, mainly because the breeders are fanatic about not “overbreeding,” which can lead to inherited health problems in the breed. Chip came to us from Alaska when he was eight weeks old in August, 1993, and we have enjoyed his company ever since.
For part of his education, we signed him up for sheepherding classes, and soon learned that Tervs, though originally bred to herd sheep, are known today for being too high strung to be easily trained as herders. But Chip has an unusually mild temperament for his breed and won his first sheepherding trial when he was just 10-1/2 months old.
Chip was also such a exemplary member of his breed that his breeder, Anna Lampley of Ember Glo Kennels, asked us to enter him in several dog shows, where dogs are judged against the standards of each breed. Chip quickly won enough shows to earn the title of “champion.” Chip’s brother Cruz won several best-in-shows and earned enough points to be considered, at times, the national champion of the breed.
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The show life, however, was not for Chip. Instead, his main job for nearly 15 years has been to take me walking each day. When we could get away, we would roam 15 to 22 miles a day in Cascade Mountain and coastal wilderness areas. When at home, he would nudge me for walks promptly at 8 am, 4 pm, and 10 pm, and generally we accumulated 4 to 5 miles each day.
When writing various reports, I found that these walks allowed me to clear my head and collect my thoughts so I could focus on the work. After 14 years, I estimated we had hiked some 20,000 miles together. In thanks, I dedicated my latest book to him and made sure his photo was featured on the cover.
At about 65 pounds, dogs of Chip’s size are supposed to age 6-1/2 years for every solar year, which would make him 97-1/2 years old today. But he doesn’t act a day over 75 and, as shown the photo above taken just a few days ago, still accompanies me on frequent walks.
I know we will have to say goodbye soon, and that will be very hard as I strongly suspect he is the best dog I will ever know. Until then, I will try to cherish every moment I have with him. Now it is time to go for a walk.
Long live Chip.
Great post. Great dog. Thanks for helping us remember what’s important in life – reminds me of that cute prayer I saw at a pet store: “Lord, make me the person my dog thinks I am.”
Reminds me of a Belgian Shepherd, but smaller. Seems to have a gift for dramatic posing.
davek,
There are four varieties of Belgian shepherds:
1. Tervurens, with long brown coats
2. Malinois, with short brown coats
3. Laekenois, with curly brown coats
4. Groenendaels, with long black coats
See Wikipedia for photos of all four. The Groenendaels are sometimes called “Belgian sheepdogs” as the others branched off from them. All are identical in size and form except for their hair color and styles. In fact, outside the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, all four are considered the same breed.
Good photos.
That dog is having quite some fun.
Really, do planners have any plans for dogs?
Ironic that most (if not all) of the photos of Chip were probably taken in areas that are protected by Oregon’s statewide land use planning program.
They are probably public lands. Unless Oregon not only regulated land righs away, but also forced their owners to open their lands up to non owners.
All of the photos were taken either at the beach (declared public land by executive order of Oregon’s governor about 95 years ago) or in national forests (created by the president, mostly around 100 years ago). Not a single one was “protected” by state land-use laws. Nearly all the lands so “protected” are private and not open to recreational dog walking.
I sit corrected.
But just think how low housing prices would be if all that land were opened up to development…
D4P,
Ha ha! (Or, should I say, LOL.)
I’m surprised that proponents of an environmentally engineered world have not yet pointed out what an environmentally wasteful human endeavor pet ownership must be. Just seeing how much our dog eats, I imagine the large environmental footprint of raising other animals to feed them to our pet, the need for a back yard (or perhaps there are studies showing pets are happier in apartments), the need for at least a station wagon to transport the animal, pet chasing away wildlife on trips (some endangered species seem to be just a few dog barks away from extinction!). When is pet ownership finally going to be evaluated and planned objectively in accordance with larger societal goals?
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