Dogs with jobs

During this morning’s (before sunrise) sheep check I found a new set of twins and a single. I was able to lure the mother of the twins into a pen without a dog. When I picked up the single and held it out to lure the mother she ran off and would not come back to her lamb even after I set it down and backed away. Fortunately we locked all the sheep in the barnyard so she could only go so far. I got Lee to help. Goal was to get the mother and some other sheep into a large stall in which I could catch the mother and lead her through the barn into a pen. She would not go into a stall not even with some of the other sheep. I grabbed a crook, had Lee bring her with some of the other sheep into a corner of the barnyard. As she ran past me I hooked her neck with the crook and then grabbed her. I picked up het front legs and walked her into a large stall and locked her in. I then put her lamb in a pen and the Lee and I pushed her from the stall, through the barn into the pen with her lamb.

Sheep hate night herding; as prey animals this is when they are the most vulnerable and fearful (panicky). The sheep’s panicky reaction often makes the dogs excited which the sheep sense increasing their anxiety.

I got hone early enough to do some dog training. I worked on Lee’s pace while “wearing” sheep ( Lee keeping sheep to me while I walk). His pace was really good with 4 sheep.
Lee wearing 4 ewes

Lee was pushy and too reactive while wearing 1 sheep (just like when moving ewe and her lambs).
Lee wearing 1 ewe
After this was filmed I worked on correcting Lee when he was too pushy and overreacting. Lee improved; but still needs more training on this.

We find it easier to deal with new lambs after dark if the flock is in the barnyard. A daily job is to bring the flock off the field into the barnyard before dark. Forgive my poor filming ability but here is Lee moving the flock.

BCSnob wrote:
We find it easier to deal with new lambs after dark if the flock is in the barnyard. A daily job is to bring the flock off the field into the barnyard before dark. Forgive my poor filming ability but here is Lee moving the flock.

Working dogs are just amazing. Love seeing them doing their job. Enjoyed seeing Sam. Where was Wendy? I don't think I saw her in the video. Sam looks like such a happy dog. . . so does Lee for that matter!

Great job!

DAle

Lee and I walked pass Wendy curled up in the grass on our way out to the flock. Wendy was “off the clock”; she did lift her head looked at me with sleepy eyes and gave me a moan.

As of 8am Feb 23 our total is

Ewes lambed: 34
Singles: 10
Twins: 24
58 lambs

BCSnob wrote:
Lee and I walked pass Wendy curled up in the grass on our way out to the flock. Wendy was “off the clock”; she did lift her head looked at me with sleepy eyes and gave me a moan.

:-)

I could watch the video of Lee moving the flock, all day long. It was so sweet and peaceful.
Do the sheep ever learn the commands you give the dogs? At least enough that they seem to anticipate where the dog is going next?

The sheep understand the commands mean there is a dog and they go on high alert; they don’t seem to understand that one commands mean the dog will do. Like other animals they learn routines. The first day we brought the ewes and lambs into the barnyard before dark too a long time and effort. Now that we’ve been doing this for several days at the same time of day, they are more willing to move to the barnyard. They won’t come in on their own (at least not without feeding them grain.

During Sunday morning’s sheep check I found 2 new born lambs with a new mother in the barnyard. I moved these into a barn stall and then moved the other ewes and lambs out if this stall. I then found another new mother in the barnyard. I searched for more new born lambs amongst all the others but found no more. I caught the new mother using Lee and a crook and put her in the stall with the 2 new born lambs and the other mother. Fortunately they sorted out who belong together and were standing separated in the stall. I moved each ewe with their lamb into their own pen. After church we had a surprise, one pen had a ewe and her single in the other pen there was now a set of triplets.