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Jet’s right on the ball with her first gather at Dean Farm
With her mother Kay being out of action because she’s “in season” at the moment (Kay’s one of those females who’s work is sometimes affected by her seasons) it seemed like a good time to let young Jet try her paw at some ‘proper’ sheep gathering today. We thought it would be a good idea to video the operation because it was Jet’s very first attempt at real farm work, but things didn’t work out that way. Luckily, I got the photo (above) with my ‘phone.
Our first job was to gather sheep from three fields away, and I know from experience that these sheep are experts at finding shady corners and overgrown hedges to hide amongst. It would be madness to expect a trainee sheepdog to gather these fields cleanly, and it’s important that every sheep is brought in for checking over and medication or treatment where required.
We decided to drive to the far end of the furthest field in the 4×4, and then Gill would drive the car back while Jet and I brought the sheep in. It worked very well.
At first, Jet was a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of sheep – the most she’s ever seen before was thirty five, and there must have been two hundred altogether, but she quickly settled down, and I was impressed at her mature approach to the work. She flanked reasonably well, and although she’s reluctant to actually stop, I could slow her down enough to keep her well back off the sheep.
Most of the sheep flocked together well, but sure enough, as we approached the gate into the field by the yard, I noticed a ewe and her lamb lying down in the corner. I cautiously sent Jet off to bring them,hoping she wouldn’t give them a hard time, but I needn’t have worried. She went just far enough to make them get up and move towards the flock, and then she just followed on behind them nicely.
Even better was to come. Two big lambs had got themselves deep under a hedgerow – quite a scary place for a novice dog to go, but Jet didn’t think twice about it, she went into the hedge when I asked her to, and once again, followed the pair along under the tunnel-like hedge until they reached the gate and the rest of the flock.
Getting the sheep into the yard proved quite a task. They really didn’t want to go in, and half would run in one direction, while the remainder of the flock went the opposite way, but Jet coped really well, flanking wide and stopping very nearly where I asked her to!
Things had gone so well, I decided to see how Jet would cope with being in a yard crammed full with sheep – or rather, Jet decided. She just followed them in as though it was the most natural thing in the world to do. I was so proud of her.
The final job was pushing the sheep through the race, and Jet quickly adapted to this as well. A remarkable debut for “little Jet”. We had Scylla with us as a backup dog, and of course, Jet had done the bulk of the work, so Scylla had the consolation of taking the sheep back to the field. Two very happy dogs!
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