It’s 5:45 and I am just home from five days in the wilderness on the top of a rock. I’m burrowing through my dresser in the dark because even though Bandy is interested in going, I am quite sure he’s not getting up. Tape up my sprained ankle and the pets and I are out the door. Gotta get up early in 100+ heat to do anything.
The drive is awesome so I took a ton of photos to show you.
I loved the pink cast on the hills as the sun rose.
These oak arches are awesome, too.
And so we arrive. You go up and up and up this super steep, forested road, and it opens up to a hillside full of vines, and you roll on down to this field. Nathan has all the sheep in the pen at once because we talked about how to make them used to stuff and I said he ought to just put them all in there and I'll teach them to sort themselves out. So there’s my set up. I tied the dogs to the fence along the back of the pen there to do the sorting.
Just one problem:
Hi, Mia. Mia is their livestock guardian and she doesn’t mind me so much as the dogs tied to the fence and I wonder how that’s going to go. She’s timid with me and also sheep colored, so trying to sort her out was pretty rough. Happily, Nathan came by and all was well because he helped get her out for the rest of the sorting. He stayed with me the whole time, which was actually nice feeling because I didn’t have to worry about how he was feeling about what I was doing. He settled up next to Fury, who sat in his lap and played with the puppy they’d acquired. When she wasn’t squeaking incessantly.
“She’s pretty little!” he comments. Which reminds me about how Shannon had come over last time and just kept exclaiming how small she was. I guess I forget how small she is until she surprises someone. We joke that she’s a “micro” but the shock they both had was funny.
And then we got to business. I had about ten sheep in there with lambs, brought Rippa in and just had her lay down until she and the sheep relaxed. Then I put her on leash and let her walk up on them, and when there was too much pressure, told her “out,” which she did. Then I walked the sheep around the pen . . . which worked pretty well. They stopped spazzing and took the direction, with Rippa covering pretty well, but not stoked about getting on the fenceline.
One ewe kept turning back and charging her, which kept her attention pretty well as she feinted and barked at her. This happened with I let Rippa put too much pressure on her, but it was really neat to watch her kind of understand that and (in contrast to Fury, below) see her bark and snarl but back up to give the sheep space to turn back.
I was pretty happy about how she balanced herself in their flight zone and I could see that this method was teaching her to get out when the pressure was on, so it seems to be a good exercise for now.
Then, when everyone seemed pretty settled, I did some “out” half moons with her, but one of the sheep spazzed and made a break for it, and Rippa lost control, meaning I lost control and there was some yelling and chasing but when I got it together to lay her down, she took it, and Nathan remarked (after I’d fallen over in the ruckus) that maybe we should astroturf the arena. And then he was like, “The videos I watched all look like that. Guess that’s the dues you have to pay.” So I was feeling better about not having perfect dogs in the ring.
So, more leash work and we try the “out” half moon again, and this time she’s good and out so I lay her down and pet her and Nathan likes that. One more time, then more walking around and downing, and it’s Fury’s turn.
I figured that I might as well use Fury like this, too. She is SO into the sheep from being off them for so long, it’s like having a year old dog again. She remembers her commands nicely, but when she feels pressure from the sheep, she’ll gleefully shoot straight at them instead of giving them room. Because of this, I did the exact same thing with her as I did with Rippa. I wanted both dogs because then the sheep would learn more general “dog” rather than get used to Rippa and freak when they put their BC cross on them. Plus, Fury is way scarier in posture and power than Rippa is.
There’s Fury being polite and waiting for me to allow her to move the sheep, with Shannon and Nathan discussing life in the background.
I even shot a little video of Fury when I knew I wouldn’t be in real trouble and need that hand.
So, you can see that Fury’s not being pretty here, but you get what I’m doing, I think. By the end she was wearing a little and getting them into the middle and no bum-rushing. So, this exercise might be good for here, too. I knew, at the end of the video there, that I shouldn’t have said “out” that last time, but we all make mistakes.
Unfortunately, a few moments later, the ornery sheep turned around and got her good on the head so I let her punish her, but then Fury was kind of over it all after that – I mean, she’s on leash, I’m not letting her do what she thinks she needs to be doing, and sheep are ramming her head. I made her do a couple more laps but she was more than ready for a “that’ll do.” No harm, no foul, but maybe she’ll start learning that rushing the sheep when she gets in their flight zone has consequences, and it coming from the sheep’s not a bad idea.
Back on Thursday. Gotta put the work in to get these sheep ready for the puppy and my dogs mellow enough to be working them right.
The ranch workers herd the flock past the car as I’m ready to head home.
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