I feel like it has been forever since Diva and I have been out to work stock and even longer since I actually had something to blog about. Unfortunately 2 months ago to the day my husband had a massive heart attack followed by an emergency double bypass surgery. To say that my entire world stopped would be a gross understatement. We were lucky though because despite some bumps in the road he is home and on the long road to recovery. All activities but the most basic and essential took a backseat, and rightfully so, but now that I can finally breathe again I am in serious need of stress relief. Participating at Nationals in 2015 has been on my mind but it's more than that. I really just miss getting out with Diva and working together. If my husband's medical emergency has taught me anything it is that life is entirely to precious to waste time stressing over things that are ultimately unimportant. Working livestock with Diva reminds me that life can be much more simple and peaceful. I want that. I NEED that. Perhaps I will get super competitive again but for now I am going to approach stock work from a different way.
This brings us to our latest adventure courtesy once again of me running a Craigslist ad. I received a response a couple of weeks ago from a guy who lives about 30 miles from our new house. He owns 40 purebred Icelandic sheep and has a 9 month male Aussie pup that he got from Pincie Creek. He grew up on a sheep ranch but this is his first stockdog and first Aussie so he was reaching out to me to not only to offer use of his sheep but to see if I could help him turn his dog into a useful helper. We spoke on the phone and agreed that coming out would be a good idea so we both could gauge if the situation would be a good fit. I had never worked Icelandics before but some online research gave me an idea of what to expect. Not all of it was encouraging as I found a BC forum where people discussed that the Icelandics could ruin a good dog :-/. Diva is not a powerful dog but she is effective and she does great with flighty stock so I figured I would do what I always do and give it a shot. if it got to dodgy then I would call it quits and stick to helping Doug out with Buddy.
Doug and his wife have 2 young daughters so he invited me to bring everyone out to the farm so the kids could play and entertain each other. Scott decided he would come along also so it turned into a family event. Doug's farm is in beautiful St. Mary's county down at the end of a quiet private road and you can imagine my delight when I pulled in and his fences are actually nice and safe for working :-). I have encountered some knarly fencing ;-). We made our introductions and he told me about his sheep and how things had grown and what the future plans are. I have to admit I very curious about shearing time and seeing these adorable spring lambs that can be born as many as 6 to one ewe!!! There is a lot of practical work to be done and I can see why Doug needs his dog to work. As we all know one good dog can replace several people and cut the time spent doing farm chores in half. I had decided to take Diva in the small barn yard area and just get an idea for how the sheep would react to a dog. Some moved off right away while the leader ewes not only turned to stare but approached and challenged. I let Diva get after the challengers as needed but called her off as soon as they turned and gave. We continued this process as we drove the sheep around for a bit. Diva was such a good girl that the sheep were not flighty and Doug was vastly impressed (lol :-)). He said his sheep are normally pretty light and scatter instead of flocking. Once I had a good idea of how they were going to react I asked Doug what was the chore that was the most difficult and yet most necessary to accomplish. His answer was that pushing the sheep into a funneled chute that lead to a small pen used for maintenance was always a fiasco that took the entire family a couple of hours atleast and left everyone upset. Doug set up his series of panels the way he usually did to get that chore done and Diva and I set about driving the stock in. It took very careful, patient, and yet strong push to accomplish the task but in just 10 minutes everyone was in and they had done so in a calm orderly fashion. The lead ewes had challenged Diva a few times but she did an excellent job of hitting and then backing off. To say that Doug and his wife were now mind blown was an understatement. You could tell that I had just given them hope that the bouncy wild puppy they had would eventually be able to help them work their sheep and save unnecessary marital strife ;-). We let the sheep settle and then I suggested it was time to bring in Buddy on a line and let him "help" Doug push the sheep back out of the small pen and into the field again. I talked Doug through where best to position buddy and he showed the enthusiasm that is natural to a 9 month old Aussie pup. What he also showed though was some good eye and quick learning as the ewes took the chance to test the new dog in their space. Once everyone was out Doug and Buddy (still on a line) drove the sheep around the field and I explained to Doug why I was having him do this. Buddy put the sheep in one corner of the field and then did a nice down to hold them while Doug and I talked. Diva and I held back by about 20 feet just to offer a little extra. Then because I wanted Doug, buddy, and the sheep to learn something together I had them drive the sheep back to the funnel chute and put them in the pen. Doug used the line to steady buddy and Diva and I hung back where we could help if needed. This is where I learned something very important about Icelandic sheep. They are very smart as far as sheep go. Just one calm time through the chute and into the pen had taught them to go right back in easily. This time they didn't balk and they didn't challenge. Doug laid Buddy down at the gate to hold for a minute and then we had a big party! What a good puppy. He had quit pulling on the lead by himself and he was really watching the sheep. Nice stuff for a first exposure! I told Doug that we should also reward the sheep by calling it quits for the day. They had been very quick to learn and I didn't want to sour them in anyway.
All in all it was a great day for both parties. Doug was excited to learn he could use Buddy on a line to help with chores and that would only make him better and more relaxed when we started working him off lead. Doug is also going to build a nice 40' x 40' pen from cattle panels so that the sheep can't run as far and we can manage Buddy's enthusiasm better ;-). For now I think it is wisest to work the Icelandics as a flock so that they get nice and dog broke. I can see how once they are sorted down to smaller groups the fight in them might come out more and that isn't good for a baby dog. Diva and I will use the small working pen Doug is making to dog break smaller groups at a later date. I am free to come out and work anytime I want which is wonderful and because there is a really practical need to get things done Diva and I can help with chores.
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