What a night. I normally let the three border collies out for a couple of minutes before we go over to milk. We are way back from the road and they know where they belong, so this is normally not a problem. They run out in the back, take care of business, and run right back to the porch.

Tonight however, something was amiss. Gael refused to go out, Mike raced back in at warp speed and Nick just disappeared. I got out the shepherd's whistle and called. He minds very well, especially the whistle, so I couldn't believe it when he didn't come right back.

I threw on my coat, grabbed a flashlight and hustled over to the cow barn. Once, several years ago, when he was young and impetuous he took off the same way and drove the sheep down in the ravine between the farms and it took Alan and me hours to get them out. This time, however, the two old sheep that we still have were communing with the show heifers with no dog in sight.

By the time I got back to the house he had returned, bleeding from both hind legs, big tearing wounds, and lame as heck. I thought coyotes had gotten him. The damned things have been so close to the buildings nights that you can hear them over the vacuum pump when we are milking. However, Alan backtracked him down to the road, where he had clearly been hit by a car. A neighbor who had seen the accident called a few minutes later to confirm this. The driver of the van who hit him didn't bother to stop. It wouldn't have made any real difference to the situation, but it would have been a nice gesture to have done so. Anyhow, Alan and I hauled him the 35 miles over to Burnt Hills Animal Hospital, where he was X-rayed, bandaged up, and put in a cage to rest up until tomorrow when they will sew him up.

We still think coyotes were involved. There are tracks all over down where he was hit and he is just not inclined to leave the yard like that. The dogs are all well trained and he is the most biddable and obedient of the three of them. We are thinking either they were chasing him or the other way around.

I am thinking too that I am going to have to do something Alan has been begging me to do for several years. He wants Nick for his own dog. Mike is my number one and everyone knows it including the dogs. They all look to me as the boss lady and food owner, but while we were there getting all that medical work done, although I was doing the holding and turning and such, that little border collie never took his eyes off that boy. His whole being was straining to get back to his kid. No matter what I may think, I do believe he may have made up his own mind about just whom he belongs with.