A Wyoming family was left heartbroken after their beloved dog made it home with a gunshot wound that ultimately proved fatal.
Drover, a six-year-old Border Collie, lived with Nate Penn and his family on their ranch near Fort Washakie. The dog was fatally injured on September 5.
Penn believes Drover was shot with a .22-caliber rifle somewhere well away from the family’s property.
Drover normally waited on the porch beside the back door to greet the family each morning. But the day after he was shot, Penn’s wife found him dead from his injuries.
Penn told Cowboy State Daily that the family may never have realized Drover had been shot if he had not used the little strength he had left to drag himself back to the ranch.
At first, Penn suspected the dog had died after chewing on rib bones the previous evening.
A closer examination revealed a small bullet wound just in front of Drover’s hind legs, between his back and flank. The bullet had passed completely through the dog’s body.
Drover was a devoted herding dog who took pride in his work. He guarded the ranch, watched over the property and was fiercely protective of Penn’s family. Penn said the dog loved everyone deeply.
Drover was a six-year-old Border Collie who took his duties on Penn’s ranch very seriously. The family have said they are devastated after his death
Each night, Drover helped protect the farm by chasing away raccoons and keeping watch over the backyard.
“He took his job as ranch security very seriously,” Penn said. “He ran clockwise circles around whatever you were doing.”
During the summer, Drover slept outside the children’s room. Whenever the family called, he would “come back at a high run.”
Penn said he was certain Drover had not been shot on the ranch and felt grateful that the dog had managed to return home.
He also concluded that the weapon was a low-caliber rifle because it took time to recognize that Drover had both an entrance wound and an exit wound.
“Both were around the same size,” Penn said, unlike the mushroom-shaped bullets used to kill deer, which expand on impact and cause far more extensive damage.
The family buried the pet dog on the property. Penn’s kids were ‘devastated’ by the news. He said that the kids are brave and have the strength to keep going.
‘They’re kind of tough farm kids,’ he added.
The family had said hard goodbyes to pet horses and other animals on the farm before, so Penn was sure that his kids would get over it.
‘But they miss their buddy,’ he said.
Drover would always come back home at night and sleep outside the kids’ room. The pup is seen here on the family’s ranch with one of their horses during the winter
Drover was a free-roaming dog, but he never wandered far from home. Penn said that the dog was not aggressive. He used to hang around the house most of the time.
‘He didn’t chase livestock, didn’t bother cats or chickens, and certainly didn’t ever bother people.’
The pet owner said he was not sure why someone shot the dog.
The Fort Washakie area, where Penn’s ranch is located, is surrounded by aggressive stray dogs. However, none of these dogs have ever been a problem.
Commonly referred to as ‘rez dogs,’ anyone could have identified that Drover was not one of them.
He was a collared, groomed and well-mannered dog.
‘Drover was clearly a Border Collie. You could not mistake him,’ Penn said.
The pet owner does not want to label anyone as the culprit. While he has his suspicions, Penn said that nothing good will come of it.
People advised him to report the incident to law enforcement but he does not think there’s a case.
‘I’m sure he was not shot on our property, so legally, what can you do?’ he said.
