My love affair with the breed started some time around New Years day in 1966 when I used all $10.00 of my Christmas
money to purchase a 6 week old black & white border collie a neighboring dairy. We called her Missy, and she was
everything a Border Collie is legend to be. I never forgot that little black and white dog. Could not begin to recall if she
was correct, or carried enough coat or moved well. But I do remember her bring up the cows every morning without
being told, and moving stock out of each free shed as the tractor finished the last row of cleaning. I remember her
patiently performing tricks and pretending she was a circus pony adorned with a head band of chicken feathers we
collected that afternoon while I collected eggs. She held the chickens at one end of the barn while I ransacked the nest
and snatched feathers. I remember her following me to the bus stop in the morning and waiting when I returned.
Running through the knee deep snow to run the yearling heifers from one pasture to the barns and only having to wait
at the gate watching her white tail tip through top of the snow as she darted from one end of the field to the other
gathering and bringing them up and through the gates. Lying under trees in summer reading a loud while she listened .
And I remember the change in this dog when she heard her that whistle or name calling her to work. And I remember
her eyes,. watching, her ears always alert even in sleep, waiting for that call. It was this dog that demonstrated to me
what drive was, what desire is, a need to respond to that call. I miss that dog. They are together I hope my Father and
his dogs. Missy will be the one on the right slightly behind so he can touch her ears. I miss them both.
So, I suppose this is their page, the beginning of BOKATE'
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