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CEDAR CREEK BUDD'S MAGGIE MAE
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Cedar Creek Budd's Maggie Mae @ 13 months old
(She's the tri-colored pup, in the back row, middle of the group in front of the center bow in this
photo )
~ December 2008 ~
Maggie is delightful! We really enjoy her personality - so friendly, affectionate, and happy-go-lucky. She is 100% a companion dog for us, as we don't really use her for any real "work" around the homestead. She loves to hang out and watch us feeding animals, tending the garden, or doing stuff in the house. She loves to be outdoors checking out the acreage for what kind of critters have come through last, greeting the neighbor's dogs, and digging holes to smell "good stuff". Maggie definitely has the herding instinct. She likes to participate in moving the horses into the barn when we bring them in at night or turn them out to pasture. With the horses we discourage this, since she could get kicked. So instead she sits on top of the hay bales and watches while I open the doors and one by one lead the horses into their stall. With the goats and chickens, she would do the same thing - herd, or rather chase them into the barn. I! would say this is a strong feature of her personality and didn't take any training on our part at all. She also quickly understands our desire to have her sit-stay at the open gate for the goat and chicken pen while we feed them. She is not allowed to go in, but we train her to stay and watch them at the gate entrance.
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Maggie is a good varmit hunter, and has brought her many trophies home to show us: snakes, birds, voles, and plenty of bugs. Then she eats most of what she catches, unless we intervene (Yuk!)! She's tried to catch rabbits, but they are too fast. Then she tried skunks! The smell never keeps her from trying again. We did have an unfortunate incident with a chicken that she killed. That suprised us, since she pretty much ignored them through most of the summer. She never did it again, and we've watched her carefully. Hopefully, this was just a one-time freak accident. |
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Maggie's favorite game is playing tug with a fox stuffed toy. If you will tell her to "go find Mr. Fox", she will run around the house looking for the toy amongst all the others. Maggie also likes to play ball and will chase it forever so long as you have the time.
Overall, Maggie is a wonderful dog and fits our lifestyle perfectly. The breed is definitely suited to an active lifestyle, of course she is still a puppy going through phases.
Before I sign off, Greg wants me to mention that Maggie is probably the best dog he has ever owned, and I would agree. Our golden retriever comes close, but Maggie has so much more intelligence! We couldn't be happier.
~ Greg & Diane
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All images © 2000 - Present day, Peg Egertsen.
All rights reserved
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