A column featuring glimpses into the everyday lives of random dogs I meet on rambles around the White Bear Lake area.
Born to a pair of black Australian Shepherds, Duke had seen every one of his littermates taken. He alone lingered. He was a sweet, healthy boy. So why was he passed over? The Aussies come in a variety of color combos, black being the rarest. Maturing at 70 pounds, Duke’s line tends to be a bit heftier and a tad more chill. It’s possible that because Duke has non-traditional facial markings, he wasn’t favored by those looking for outward conformance to the breed type. But there’s a lot going on beneath a dog’s coat, and that’s what counted to Ben Ludwigson, of White Bear Lake, when he got Duke about five years ago. You could call it a process of more-natural selection. Ben leads a super-active life, both at work and at play, and Duke is a super-active play partner with a first-rate work ethic.
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