Pete has an official title, it's "barn cat" but actually, Pete runs the place. No, the name Alta Pete has nothing to do with Pete (shhh, don't tell him). Scott picked that name long before Pete came around. Pete and Scott met 5 1/2 years ago when Pete was just a youngster and they both lived in Buffalo, Alberta. Every night in the winter, Scott would leave a heat lamp with a tarp over it on the quad so that it would keep the engine warm enough to start. In the morning, Scott would go out and take off the tarp and see a small streak as it took off to shelter elsewhere. When he figured out it was a feral kitten, he started leaving a bowl of food under the tarp too. Eventually, the kitten started hanging around to meet Scott and they became tentative friends. Both of his ears and the tip of his tail had been frozen off but it didn't seem to bother him.
When it came time to move, Scott caught Pete, neutered him and released him to the new barn in New Dayton where Pete took over his daily duties. Petey, now quite friendly, feels it is very important to supervise all dog work done on our farm and you will often hear his comments (non stop meowing) on the video tapes we do of the dogs in training. Recently, Pete begrudgingly aquired an apprentice. When our neighbors moved and left their farm house vacant, Cali came over to see what we had going on. Between the two of them the farm mice live in fear and never dare to get in to our grain storage.
