Falling Cow Crashes on Collie

Less than two minutes into his first cattle herding practice, Ranger the border collie found himself, literally, between a cow and a hard place.

“He charged down there like his usual maniac self and ran into the cow’s back legs at full speed,” said Ranger’s owner Jeanne Brown of Flagstaff, Ariz. “Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough to escape the falling cow and ended up breaking its fall. He seemed unfazed at first and kept working for a little while, but when he started limping on his back leg, I took him to the veterinarian right away. Besides some minor bruising, they determined he was all right and after a couple days, he was running around like crazy again. You’d never know he was underneath a cow.”

Brown’s claim for Ranger was one of more than 70,000 claims received in the month of April by Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI), the nation’s oldest and largest provider of pet health insurance. Brown’s uncommon accident was considered along with other out of the ordinary claims submitted in April and selected by VPI as the most unusual of the bunch.

“Ranger is working toward his herding titles,” said Brown. “He’s had plenty of practice with ducks and sheep, but the title for cattle herding is the most difficult. I’m pretty sure he thought the cows would run away from him like the sheep do, but they’re not afraid. Unfortunately, he learned his first cattle herding lesson the hard way.”