Last weekend I witnessed something I may not ever see again. This kind of thing is probably common place in Ireland, England or Scotland. But here in the States it is a rare sight. My friend Loretta was asked to use her border collies and help with some real farm work.
It was very fun to watch. There were about 110-120 head that were moved from one farm where they pasture in the summer to the farm where they will spend the winter months. There were four dogs that were used, plus four ATV's and then a vehicle followed to pick up tired dogs and switch them out with fresh ones. So across county roads and down a railroad track they went...
Getting ready to leave the first farm. View from the vehicle.
On our way!
Crossing the first busy road.
Loretta working Zip
How about taking the sheep for a walk through the woods? Okay.
Zip keeping the sheep from spreading out on a cross street while heading down the railroad.
Zip says, "Get along there Ladies, get along."
Gator my co-pilot during the drive.
Loretta used two of her dogs, Klink and Zip. And Kathy used two of her dogs. Gator came along but didn't get to work with the sheep. He was however, my right hand man, er...dog with my driving the car and keeping me safe from strange men along the way.....and heck he is so photogenic for pictures. Love pictures of Gator.
Okay, it just seemed like catchy title to this post.
It's been a busy weekend for Reese. Yesterday it was a Skijoring lesson where we started to learn things like "line out", "pull", and directions. It was fun to see Reese with the other dogs and completely being a good girl keeping herself together while we watched some other dogs act up with over excitement and stimulation. Yes, I remember those days - but I am so glad we are past them.
Reese did great with a number of other dogs around in a strange environment and lots of weirdness going on. First there was the harness, then the rubber mats and tires that dogs were pulling around. Lots of new dogs from huskies, which for some reason she has never cared for, a lab, a golden, a couple Aussie mixes, a border collie mix, some standard poodles, GSD, and to round it all out a mastiff.
Today we had our agility lesson. We ran the Grand Prix quarterfinals course from USDAA. It was fun, fun, fun. We are getting faster and really working as a team. Reese is really starting to understand my body language and I am figuring out slowly but surely the little changes that I can make that will help her understand what I am asking for.
Then....it was on to herding. Once again Reese did a great job. She is really trying hard and working really well, staying off the sheep at a good distance and giving them space on her flanks. Not running tight up into their backsides and not diving in to bust them up. Here is a short video of her working today with my trainer. She separates one at one point but then gets them back together again and keeps on working.
Being that our next herding clinic is only a few short weeks away I wanted to spend a little time working on Reese's manners around sheep. For those that know Reese you know that she is a gung ho girl. She doesn't do anything half a$$ if she is going to do it she will give it her all. Insert "impulse control work" here. Reese has learned so much impulse control with agility and other dogs running etc. in the last year. The 180 degree shift in how she is now compared to where she was is quite amazing.
But she is still very gung ho to work sheep and while she should be, she still needs to have self control. Because she sometimes forgets her sheep manners the plan was to walk Reese through the pasture on leash and work on her walking nicely in the presence of sheep and calling her off from where she was back to me while on leash etc.
Well the next thing I hear is my trainer tell Reese, "If you want to work sheep you have to listen to me..."
Um, huh?? I thought we were just going to take a walk in the pasture.
To my surprise our trainer decided to give it a go and see how Reese would do working.
She was giving it her all and really trying. Such a good girl. We moved some of the sheep to the round pen to really let her work and work she did. She was amazing! She remembered all that she learned from the clinics we attended this summer. It has been awhile since she has worked stock so I wasn't sure how many steps back we would need to take, but she is back where we left off.
She did just wonderful. She was thinking...and listening... and understanding what was being asked of her. She called off the sheep, she downed when asked. I was so proud of her. She is such a good girlie. She tries so hard and that hard work is paying off. She is really getting it and understanding what working is.
The new Reese....chasing = balls, working = sheep!
There has been a lot going on and I'm not going to try to post it all. But I will share a few highlights in the next few posts. (and just for the record, I have been trying to get this post out all week, but blogger has not been cooperating.)
I love the Spring it is my favorite season. I think when you live were it is snowy and below zero much of the winter, winter sometimes being 8 months out of the year, you really have a hearty appreciation for Spring. First, the thaw and then the grass starts to green up, finally all new things come to life. Flowers bloom, trees begin to bud and most important - lambs are born!
Yes, my friend has sheep and they do their lambing in the Spring.
Aren't they the sweetest things. They were so small when I saw them on this day. Much tinier than they look in the pictures.
One of the Ewes. Wondering what's going on with her baby.
On this day that I visited the lambs it was my birthday so it was extra fun to see the little baby woolies. I was also asked to help band and dock tails. Okay so I just had to hold the little buggers but it was interesting to see how it is done. Much easier then I thought. (Of course I wasn't on the receiving end).
Hey there, whatcha all doin' down there? Ooohhh!
My friends are great. I appreciate so much that they are willing to share how they do things with their sheep with me. I am learning so much even the little things that are so mundane to them are fun and interesting to this city girl, wanna be farmgirl. I want to learn and know as much as I can about the daily care of livestock before I get my own so I know just what I am in for...so far, I love it!
