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A couple of weeks ago we set sheep with Julie P up at Robin's trial at Shoofly Farm. I started documenting as we went but got distracted along the way. But I thought I'd share up to where I forgot to take pics anymore.

We loaded up early. We rolled out around 6:30... though we were up before 5am.



As per usual, I had my priorities in order. See above for portajohn, and below for coffee. Priorites. I has them.



Once we got there we put the girlz into the sorting system.



Then I would lay Nick down over to the side...



And push the sheep out myself.



That being said... both sheep and dog tend to take advantage when you have a camera in your face. That was the first set of the day, and that sheep that turned back on me would turn out to be a troublemaker All. Weekend. Long. For the most part, though, the sheep settled as the morning went on and I thought worked pretty nicely.

I didn't get any pictures of how we worked the sorting system. I would leave a gap in the crush gate just big enough for my dog to get through. The dog - Nick or Linc, or in Julie's case one of her dogs, would go into the big crush pen and lie down over to the side while I'd move sheep up through the system. Once I got to the back pen (which would then be empty) I would have the dog just quietly hold their side while I loaded the last sorting pen from the back. It was a very quiet and (I'd say 98%) hands free system.

Then we'd go drink more coffee.

We did a little pen work and did quite a bit of setting out. Here Nick and I stand waiting for our next packet for the novice classes:



It was a nice weekend. Linc really surprised me with his maturity and some finesse I hadn't realized he possessed. Excepting one minor incident (a ewe lamb wound up feet in the air - still not sure exactly how that happened) he was a quiet but firm presence in there and I liked it. Nick was his usual good self.

I always love the view from the top.

Revelation

Yesterday I went over to a friend's place to work dogs, spend some time, and play with my new puppy. Yep, you heard it, new puppy. Except... she won't be coming home for a few weeks yet. All of the puppies are freaking adorable... and at this point it really doesn't matter so much which one, because I love them all.

At any rate, on to revelations. I was out there working Linc on the whole flock. I'd had this little idea that we'd go out, work for about five easy minutes, switch dogs, repeat, and then be done with the dog working portion of the show. Unfortunately Linc needed something else.

He started blowing off my lie downs. Started getting a little tense. Normally this is where I get frustrated. Ok, mad. Add in PMS and it's not always the prettiest picture ever. But instead of getting mad I started thinking. Why is he refusing to lie down? Is he just being a jerk? Wait a minute! The sheep are getting unsettled. They're starting to run. Why are they starting to run? Because he's cranking in on the backside of his flanks. He's getting tighter in general, but he's also giving them a fair nudge between 10 and 11 o'clock. Duh, Laura.


So I went to my sheep, and quietly started to remind him to stay out on his flanks.

Lo' and behold, he started taking my lie downs again, even from a distance. He started taking appropriate flanks, and the sheep settled back down.

Score one for me for thinking like someone who occasionally actually manages to train her own dogs!



So we went back to the barn to cool off, and the sheep headed up the field to hang in the woods. After cooling down some, we thought it might be a good idea to see how he might do going out to pick them up. We estimated they were about 200 yards out. He's not gone out much further than that, and certainly not to pick up the sheep in the woods.

I sent him, and he pulled up about 50 yards later because he didn't see them. But as he was sort of sweeping he saw them. In subsequent attempts he was DETERMINED to cross over. He was right - the pressure was to the right, but because of the setup of the field and fence there wasn't sufficient room for him to go right without upsetting the sheep.

I finally let him cross over just to get out there, but in the next attempts he STILL was just bound and determined to cross. Nothing was working. He would either go out and forget what he was doing, or try to cross.

OK, FINE, I thought. I walked him up there until we were about, I dunno, 50 yards out, and sent him. Beautiful. Insert huge sigh here.

After another break for cooling down, I went back out to send him again. He went out about 50 yards, and again pulled up like he didn't know where he was going. I recalled him, and sling-shotted him. Darned if he didn't finally just run out. Not only did he run out, but he ran out BEAUTIFULLY, and with authority. Nice fetch, bu the failed to cover half of the flock and they broke off. I sent him back to pick them up, before gathering everyone to put them back in the trees again.

I set him up for one more outrun, and he went. This time not only did he go out right, but he also had learned the time before and actually covered his sheep. This is what I love about this part of the process - seeing them learn from the sheep. Anyway, not only was it a million degrees outside, but it seemed the perfect point to just... stop.

This is one of the holes I was afraid he'd have - not looking for sheep further out, not looking for sheep in different fields and so on. I'm not even sure this was the right method, basically just sending his royal fluffiness out there until he did it right. We were sort of laughing about it, but it was obvious he had a huge AHA! moment, and it was really, really exciting to see. It worked. Way back in another life I was once told, "Sometimes you have to find out who is more stubborn - you, or the horse" and I think this was one of those times.

Linc Gets to be Big Dog

Photo by Robin French

Yesterday I ran over to Julie's to work dogs with Kelly, and to load some sheep for her. I had used Nick to sort off the Karakul yearling lambs for Linc, but it turned out that yesterday they were not their usual heavy selves - they were trying to run hell-bent for leather. This is a bad thing, because Linc doesn't really have quite the head for that yet.

So I decided to use Linc to put the lambs back and then sort off the hair sheep instead. Nevermind the fact that Linc hasn't done much by way of sorting and holding and such. I sent him into the paddock (which is long and skinny) and to my surprise he shimmied along the fence quiet and methodical, and scooped the sheep out of that far corner. I lied him down, and proceeded to try to sort out the hair sheep. I had all but one, and OOPS - a Karakul ewe too. The ewes were getting more and more pushy at the gate, and I was flanking Linc around (which he did very nicely) to try to shift the ones I wanted to the front.

Next thing I knew the bastard sheep decided to run me over, and Linc decided to help them. Out the gate they all went - I've learned my lesson on standing my ground (to a point) and having my feet taken out from under me. Linc, in hot pursuit, covered the sheep nicely. He decided at that point, though, that he no longer knew what stopping was. I can't say that I blame him - it was all very exciting. But still, we had a job to do and I needed him to have his head on to do it. We had a little discussion about stopping when asked to - and he just straightened right up.

I decided to keep using him after seeing that he was going to keep thinking. I let the sheep I did NOT want back into the paddock, and Linc did everything I asked of him - nicely, quietly, and thoughtfully. We then scooped the hair sheep off the gate, and finally got down to the order of business - driving, and little outruns. His left hand outrun has opened up a bit from last week, and appears to be coming along nicely. I could feel him looking at me a couple of times but forced myself to look at the sheep, and walk confidently. Next thing I knew he was just... doing it. He was covering and holding the line, and I was grinning like a lunatic. I felt like we were working together, and I was able to relax and not lean on him.

Robin said something that really stuck with me the other day. Among other things she said to treat Linc as if he was already more trained than he is - and then he would be. That's what I did, and he was.

When it was time to put the sheep all back out, I decided to just go on and use Linc again. To my amazement he had finally "gotten" what I wanted - and helped me to quietly let the sheep out - which I did one or two at a time. He was awfully proud of himself, and I was proud of him too. He got to be Big Dog yesterday - and we both liked it.

Linc Videos

Okeydoke. As promised, here are three videos of Linc on sheep from this past weekend. These videos taken by Julie Poudrier:





And a longer one:

Linc Pictures

Here are some pictures that Robin French took of Linc working sheep this past weekend. He sure is starting to grow up! Thank you Robin, they're gorgeous!

Videos to follow later!