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I live in the Hardy’s Chapel Community of Overton County, Tennessee, where I was born and raised. I work on the farm and teach school.

My father, Lee Curtis, always kept a Shepherd dog and a few cattle on the farm. We trained a shepherd pup about 1927 or 1928. We could send him after a cow, or we could make him stand guard; or we could surround a cow and make her go in the stable. We could get on a horse and lead a cow with a rope with the help of the heeling dog.

I didn’t have a working dog for several years. Four years ago I got a Registered English Shepherd pup from Mrs. John Blankenship, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, that was a natural heel driving dog. I wouldn’t have but one dog until I got the English Shepherd pup. Now I have four females and one male.

I do not have time to hunt for wild animals, but recently my dogs went to the woods, caught a squirrel and brought it to the house. They killed a rat at the barn and took it where they saw my wife bury one the day before. My dogs have the stock loving heel driving instinct and will fight man or beast to protect my boys.