Some “on the job” training for a promising youngster
The inevitable time lag between a training session being filmed and then appearing in the Tutorials Library means there’s no video of Bronwen gathering sheep at Dean Farm in Part 6. However, progress so far shows that while Scylla’s still untrustworthy around sheep (but improving), Bronwen’s fast becoming a “go to” sheepdog for everyday work.
While our ever-reliable Kay would like to take a back seat
Kay, who’s been a gallant little worker for us ever since she earned herself a starring role on our sheepdog training DVD First Steps in Border Collie Sheepdog Training (no longer available), isn’t quite as gallant as she was when she was younger. She’s still a great little sheepdog but, unless she’s close to me, she doesn’t want to take any risks, especially with aggressive sheep. Who can blame her? Plus, she has a litter of puppies at home.
When we gathered sheep for shearing yesterday, a Jacob sheep and her two lambs managed to separate themselves from the rest of the flock. I sent Kay to bring them back.
Unfortunately, as Kay approached, one of the lambs struggled through a wire fence and ran away. This dramatically increased the frustration of the mother. The ewe showed her anger by stamping and threatening to charge at Kay, before running off, taking the remaining lamb with her. Unfortunately they went in the opposite direction to the missing lamb. Kay set off in pursuit and eventually managed to turn the little ewe back towards the missing offspring.
The Jacob mum eventually spotted her errant lamb and ran to it, firmly placing herself between her babies and Kay. It was not a challenge that Kay felt able to take on. To ease the situation, I walked up to the sheep while Kay walked close behind me.
Bronwen’s time to shine?
We eventually brought the sheep to the farm buildings, and I put Kay back in the 4×4 because I thought Bronwen would be better for pushing the sheep into the handling pen. The youngster was over-enthusiastic and aggressive though, and quickly found herself back in the car. Given a second chance, Kay did a surprisingly good job! She skirted around the sheep and did not stop long enough for a sheep to focus on her, let alone threaten her.
Meanwhile, the rest of the flock had grown bored with the novelty of grazing the farm drive and were walking back over the railway bridge, into their field. Their timing was perfect because the Jacob ewe spotted them and hastily took her family to join them.
Is Kay losing her “zip”?
The flock was heading the wrong way though, so I sent Kay to push the sheep back over the bridge and down the farm drive. However, she was very reluctant and frequently looked back at me. This is very unlike Kay. I’d like to think it’s because she’s still feeding her pups and feeling maternal, but I suspect it’s a sign of Kay’s increasing age.
Once the sheep were inside the sorting pen, the next job was to push them through a narrow race system. The race allows the operator to direct some of the sheep one way, and the rest somewhere else. In our case, the sheep for shearing were to be kept back, and the lambs returned to the field.
Kay, however, was anything but enthusiastic about the task. She refused to approach the sheep unless I did too. I decided to see how Bronwen would cope. She had been over-aggressive in the yard, but I hoped to have more control inside the pen.
At first, Bronwen was confused by being “trapped” in such close proximity to the sheep, and she even barked. But she quickly took the work seriously and proved that she’s not intimidated by the aggressive ewes in the flock.
Nipping on command
On several occasions a ewe threatened to attack Bronwen, and Bronwen’s immediate reaction was to bite it on the nose! Not one of the ewes retaliated once she’d given them “the treatment”. The ewes will remember it next time Bronwen’s in the yard, too.
It’s a good plan to put a command on the dog’s “nipping”. It allows you to give the dog permission to defend itself when needed.
Our video “Sometimes nice is not enough” deals with this topic. See our Online Sheepdog Training Tutorial Videos.
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