Drover, a 6-year-old border collie, loved and protected the Penn family on their rural Fort Washakie home. That’s probably why he doggedly made it home Sunday before dying from a bullet wound after somebody shot him.
The Penn family was devastated to find their family dog dead near their home, shot by a low-caliber rifle.
But the wound didn’t immediately end his life.
“Wherever he got shot, he made it home before he died,” Nate Penn told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. “Otherwise, we never would have known. He will be missed.”
Running Circles Around Everyone
Drover was a herding dog who didn’t have much to herd, so he “invested some jobs” for himself, said Penn.
“He took his job as ranch security very seriously,” he said. “He was always running off raccoons or other critters, and he ran patrol around a barnyard full of animals every night.”
Drover also liked “running circles” around everything and everyone.
“He ran clockwise circles around whatever you were doing,” Penn said. “If I was shoeing horses in the barn, he’d be walking circles around me. If the kids were in the arena riding horses, he'd be running big circles around. The ground around the pen is bare from him running circles around it.”
More than anything, Drover had an enormous affinity for Penn, his wife, and their three children, ages 7, 9, and 11, he said. That job took precedence over everything.
“During the summer, he would sleep outside the kids’ room when the windows were open,” Penn said. “He’d always come back at a high run when you called him, and he would be sitting on the porch right out the back door to meet us every morning. He was a great dog.”
That made it all the more tragic when Penn’s wife informed him that Drover was dead on their property Sunday morning.
Right Through Him
At first, Penn thought Drover’s death might have been caused by the rib bones he’d been gnawing on the previous night. It was the only thing that made sense.
It wasn’t until he inspected the dog’s body that he realized his death was much more painful and tragic.
“We noticed a really small blood spot, right in front of his hind legs, between his back and his flank,” he said. “I started feeling around and realized it was a really small bullet wound.
Penn guessed that the shot came from a .22-caliber rifle or similar. Anything bigger would have caused more damage.
He also observed that the bullet went straight through Drover’s body. It didn’t expand as a larger-caliber bullet typically does.
“When you shoot deer with whatever, the bullet mushrooms and expands and causes a bunch of damage,” Penn said. “He didn't have any of that. It took a while to realize that there were entrance and exit wounds, and both were around the same size.”
Penn also surmised that Drover wasn't shot on his property. Everything indicated the dog didn’t collapse and die until he’d gotten home.
“Thankfully, he made it home before he died,” he said.
Wasn’t a Rez Dog
Penn admitted Drover was a free-roaming dog, but he never strayed far from home and wasn’t aggressive toward anyone.
“He hung around the house 95% of the time, and never went more than a hundred yards away,” he said. “He didn't chase livestock, didn't bother cats or chickens, and certainly didn't ever bother people.”
Hundreds of stray dogs roam around Fort Washakie, and some have aggressive tendencies, he said. Penn has seen and encountered plenty of “rez dogs” around his and his neighbors’ properties.
“We call them rez dogs, and they're mutts that just run around all over the place,” he said. “We've had lots of dogs in and out of the yard over the years, and none of them have been a problem.”
Someone might confuse any dog with a rez dog, but Penn said he believes anyone could see Drover was different. He was collared, well-kept, and kept to himself when he wasn’t home.
“He’s clearly a border collie,” he said. “He doesn't look like a typical rez dog. A lot of them have a little bit of a pit bull look, and most of them are brindled. Drover was clearly a border collie. You could not mistake him.”
'They’ll Get Over It'
Penn has suspicions of who might have shot his dog, but he’s kept them to himself. He doesn’t see anything good from “naming names.”
“I know it wasn’t any of my immediate neighbors,” he said. “It's not going to do any good for me to name names or even say which direction they lived. Nothing's going to come of it other than some more hurt feelings.”
Drover was with Penn’s family after dark Saturday when the family went to bed. He wasn’t kept on a chain because he never strayed far from home and, if he wasn’t already there, always came back in the morning from wherever he’d ventured.
Many people have encouraged Penn to report the incident to law enforcement. He’d decided not to, because he doesn’t think there’s a case.
“I'm sure he was not shot on our property, so legally, what can you do? I don't think there's anybody who technically would have been breaking the law by shooting him,” he said.
The family buried Drover on the property. Penn said his kids are “devastated” but knows they have the resilience to keep going.
“They’re kind of tough farm kids, I guess you'd call them,” he said. “We’ve put horses down before, and we’ve had other animals come and go, so they’ll get over it. But they miss their buddy.”
There’s also the sadness of not only knowing Drover is dead, but that he was determined to make it back to his family after he was shot. Even if Penn knew who shot his family’s dog, he’d never understand why.
“It's just a really shitty thing that somebody would do that to a dog that clearly had a home,” he said. “He was buried on a morning when he should have been with us on a trail ride, enjoying the holiday. He was a great dog."
Contact Andrew Rossi at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
