Farm Fresh Blog

Remember Puss In Boots from Shrek?

I'd forgotten about Puss In Boots until I found that weepy little worried face staring at me at the herding clinic this weekend.  Lily walked into the pen with the sheep on Saturday morning and said "I don't wanna be here!  I wanna go home!"  Eegaads!

Do WHAT!!!!???  She was in major shut-down. I was in complete shock. How could this weepy-eyed creature be the same dog that regularly takes on cattle trying to kick the crap out of her? I expected major handling errors on my part. I expected her to look at me too often. I expected her to slice in on her flanks and run sheep on top of me, but never in a million years did I expect her to stand there like Puss In Boots, staring at me, frozen in her tracks.  Holy Crap!

And that's where I really came to appreciate Patrick Shannahan and the rest of the herding people at the clinic.  He patiently worked through Lily's fear.  Because Lily only had one training slot on Saturday, someone else graciously offered her afternoon slot so that we could work out Lily's problems then. Although still incredibly inhibited, Lily did loosen up and work enough in the afternoon for Patrick to see what our general problems were.  And yes, we have many.  I have worked too much on driving at the expense of her gathering skills.  That needs to be remedied. We also need to work on having her respect my bubble and the sheep's bubble. And OBVIOUSLY she needs to go to NEW places to work so she doesn't freak out and shut down again.

While neither of these runs were typical of the way Lily regularly works, both runs took our faults, compounded them, and amplified them quite loudly. But the good thing was that we were in the perfect place for that to happen. I cannot say enough good things about the people at the clinic this weekend.  They were so welcoming and supportive that I left the clinic, after not one, but TWO really poor showings, and yet I left eager to continue to learn and go to more clinics.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay for two days because we had farm work calling us. Ewes are lambing. Cows are calving, and naturally, it's cold and raining again.  Of course . . . every cow wants to be born in the cold mud. Although I regretted only be able to train for one day, I was happy to have that day.  And this morning Roanie, (remember Roanie, my favorite ewe that the police dog mauled) blessed us with twins!

Fortunately she popped both out with no trouble, but it still reconfirmed my decision to not leave our farm caretakers with the responsibilities of sheep lambing in the mud for three days. Thankfully, Roanie had enough sense to have both of these little fellows in a dry corner of the barn.   (pictures tomorrow!)