Duck-hunting, walnut-loving Jade earns farm dog award
They greet us with wagging tails, even if we’ve only been gone a half hour. They share our happy moments and comfort us when we’re sad. Dogs show fierce loyalty, love and companionship to their owners. This is especially true of a farm dog. Big or little, short-haired or a ball of fur, a farm dog can herd sheep, corral cattle, protect chickens and greet visitors. They are a warm presence by a farmer’s side, whether it’s riding shotgun in a truck, checking crops at sunrise or harvest at night. Jade is one of those dogs. The 4-year-old black Labrador retriever works hard and plays hard on her family’s 380-acre walnut farm in Tulare County, earning her the Grand Prize in the California Farm Bureau’s first Farm Dog Contest. Lindsey Swall, a 20-year-old agriculture student at California State University, Fresno, won the $1,000 prize for her photos and essay on Jade. “A dog is supposed to be man’s best friend, but she truly is our entire family’s best friend,” wrote Swall, a sixth-generation farmer. “She has a confident, self less and gentle personality that is contagious and makes us better people.” Hunting hound Jade joined the family four years ago as a pup and was immediately trained with hand signals to retrieve ducks on family hunting trips. “Even early mornings and cold water don’t stop Jade from doing what she loves,” Swall said. “She is patient and quiet until it is her time to retrieve, but is ready to perform at a moment’s notice.” Swall said Jade stays by her side when she checks the garden every morning and rides with her on the ATV when she runs errands on the farm. The dog is also a faithful companion to Swall’s father, Lee, as he does his farm chores. “She loves going to town, driving along, sticking her head out the window or going out to the field, checking on field operations,” he said. “We’ll get out and she’ll run around, and she loves to carry walnuts around. She loves to eat them, primarily.”
Jade, a Labrador retriever known for her love of walnuts, above, joins Lee Swall and his daughter, Lindsey, opposite page, during rounds on the family farm.
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