Category: Our sheepdogs at work
Molly earns her “wings”
Despite having little training our Kelpie, Molly, reaches basic Sheepdog Status! Training a Kelpie still feels experimental for us, but we’re learning together – and enjoying it. Sheepdog training sessions have been few and far between here recently. This is because we’ve been busy updating the sheepdog training tutorials as well as working on the website. But after a really good session with Scylla today,… Read more.
Farewell to Bronwen (her talent was wasted here)!
Bronwen’s gone to a new home in Gloucestershire where she’ll have a much larger flock of sheep to look after Training and selling sheepdogs is all very well, but, when it comes to selling a dog that you’re very fond of, it can be an extremely difficult decision. For a long time we felt that Bronwen’s sheep herding skills were wasted here. During the summer… Read more.
Wow! Kelpie Molly gets our ‘Man of the Match’ Award!
Trainee Kelpie sheepdog Molly is making progress If you’ve read our Kelpie vs Collie blog, you’ll know that we’ve had our ups and downs with Kelpies over the years. I’ve personally been on the receiving end of some bitter comments from enthusiasts for what I wrote about Kelpies. That’s a pity. The people who directed their vitriol and untrue accusations in my direction clearly hadn’t… Read more.
All Safely Gathered in
Memories of Kay and Carew at Dean Farm on this day four years ago! Regular readers will know that we often gather sheep for our landlord John, at Dean Farm. This is a typical picture of Kay (left) and Carew keeping an eye on the sheep which they’ve just put safely into a building. Our regular readers will also know that Carew now works on… Read more.
Training my first dog, Dot
This is Dot, the herding dog that changed my life! Dot features in our Sheepdog Training Article (written in 2003). We had a lot of fun with Dot. In the early stages of her training I very nearly returned Dot to her breeder because I didn’t understand her. She wasn’t doing the things I’d expected trainee dogs to do; the things that happened in the… Read more.
Bronwen – arguably our best sheepdog ever!
At Dean Farm today, Bronwen worked supremely well It’s so rewarding when a trainee sheepdog shows improvement. Knowing she can be somewhat “trigger happy” when it comes disciplining an errant sheep, I really didn’t expect Bronwen to be a serious contender for being our best herding sheepdog ever, but her recent performances have been superb. The trainee sheepdog showed improvement indeed! She still needs watching… Read more.
Carew Shows How to Pen Sheep!
Carew shows how to pen some reluctant sheep Penning should be calm, but firm We came across this short clip, and thought we’d share it with you. Notice that the task is much more difficult because Carew’s pushing the sheep into the pen on her own. Penning sheep is far easier for the dog if the handler stands closer to the pen (or even inside… Read more.
Bronwen excels under pressure at Dean Farm
The day was wet and extremely muddy, but Kay and Bronwen had the work done in style Today was busy with sheep gathering. First, a bunch of ewes needed to be moved along the lane to a new field and to join another flock. Then all the sheep were put through the race for ultrasound scanning (to see how many lambs they’re expecting). Choosing the… Read more.
Bronwen Rises to Kay’s Challenge
Not to be outdone by Kay’s improved performance yesterday, Bronwen took charge of today’s gather and was outstanding Until now I’ve left the bulk of sheep gathering to Kay because Bronwen had a habit of cutting in and bringing only part of the flock at a time. She’d go back for more if commanded, but it was a tedious business, so I usually chose the… Read more.