Good Dog! I think...

We are almost finished perimeter-fencing a portion of our acreage so our chickens will stay on the property, which means our dog, Kes, a Pointer/Golden Lab cross, can run outside of her smaller picket-fenced area now, as long as the girls are in the pen and when I'm out with her. She was running around today, having a good old time while I'm checking on eggs in the coops, and ran down a small embankment out of my sight to one of the fence lines, so I called her back. Instead of running back to me, she comes walking back, very carefully carrying something in her mouth I couldn't see. At first, I think she looks guilty, like maybe she's been eating chicken poop (blech!) which occasionally she forgets herself and does unless I scold her. Then I see she indeed does have something round in her mouth. When she gets almost to me, she carefully lays it on the ground. It's an egg, a very dirty egg from one of the Poufy-head Sisters for sure, but obviously layed WAY on the other side of the property from the coops. I pick it up and except for one tiny hole on the aircell end, the egg is completely intact. I also smell that it is rotten and has been out there for some time, ick.
I cant believe she retrieved that egg and didn't break it open, brought it back to me and laid it on the ground at my feet! She's never been taught to do that, but I'm very proud of her. Good girl, Kes! Makes me wonder, though, if she'd be gentle with a live chick. Probaby wouldn't want to take that chance. Nope. She's a BIRD dog. Here's Kes (pronounced "KESS")

She just wanted to help out her loving mom. Kes is a very pretty girl - she also looks sweet.

What a good and pretty girl you have, now if you could teach her to be nice to the girls she could bring your eggs in for you.

By carrying an egg and not breaking it means she has a soft mouth which is a highly desireable trait among bird dogs. Do you hunt your dog? She probably comes from hunting stock. A soft mouth is good cause it means a retriever doesn't mangle the duck when he brings it back.

Aww!! She's soo cute!! Very good dog indeed!

My mom lets my dog hang around with the chickens, but I have to keep my eye on her all the time because she's a bird dog mix.

Good Dog! Sweet story.

Everything about Kes is soft, actually. She's like a 70 lb marshmallow! Kes is afraid of thunder, wind, rain, doors closing on her, things rolling across the floor, you name it. She had a rough start in life. Someone found her on the side of the road as a puppy of a few months old and took her home, thank goodness. Their 16 yr old nonsense hated her, so they put her outside. They quickly realized she was not an outside dog and turned her over to the Humane Society, where she lived with a foster mom and other dogs. She was estimated to be about 8 months old then. I was looking for a companion for my boxer/retriever mix, Cody, who died this year at age 12, and she seemed perfect--she was as submissive as he was dominant. It was a perfect match. They were best friends till he passed and he taught her everything he knew, which was considerable, let me tell you. She, however, was afraid of everything and he was afraid of nothing. She's seemed quite lost without her best pal, but now that she can run, she's much happier! And, no, I don't hunt her because gunfire would send her into shaking fits like it does when neighbors fire off guns around here, LOL!

A very pretty girl. Way to go, Tess!

What a beautiful pic of Kes! I love her collar!

What a tender mouth she has! An egg-gathering dog! LOL!!!

Thats the retriever in her. Retrievers are bred to bring something back to you like ducks and pheasants. They have soft jowls so they don't crush the birds they carry. They are not bred to kill, so I don't think she would think the chickens are fair game, since they are alive. She probably would be very protective of them. I have a golden retriver/yellow lab and he loves to just sit and watch the chickens run around. I tell him to take care of my babies, and he wags his tail and looks for them.