farmers and working dogs

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Sheepdoggers,

Sorry about the unedited post.

 

Ms. Wendy V has written, in part: " I can usually get close to my targeted ewe/lambs by walking slowly around the flock until I can capture them with my leg crook. I admit, I do not know how to use a dog in this situation"

 

I do but my wife, the shepherd, prefers to walk among them, soothing them with talk. When I'm away she brings the ewes in to feed by calling and they come, perhaps because they see a human at dawn and expect a dog. I have seen small operations where a dog was unnecessary and where a semi trained dog in the shepherd's semi-trained hands would have done more harm than good. I've seen purebred flocks where the sheep were too big, too valuable and too stupid for a dog.

 

Some years ago, Bernie Feldman arranged a trial at Virginia Tech against the University shepherd's opposition. "You don't need a dog to handle sheep" the shepherd insisted.

 

Since Tech had aisles,pens,walkways and gates that any livestock market would have envied (none of their gates dragged!) and since he had perhaps three student workers per sheep, he was correct. He didn't need a dog; he had freshmen.

 

Anyway, when we sheepdoggers got there for the trial, we had to walk through a shallow tub of disinfectant which we thought was odd but okay. Problem was the sheep. They were so fat they could hardly walk and over that small course (250 yeard outrun) they frequently collapsed.

 

I can guess how they got so fat (Freshmen!) but I would have hated to lamb those sheep out - with or without a dog.

 

Donald McCaig