This morning we loaded a few dogs in the car and headed up I5 to visit our good friend, Lora. It was time for Rose to visit some other sheep and I was looking for some guidance on the best way to start her. I also think it is good for my son to work with someone other than his mom with his dog 🙂 It helps that he adores Lora!
The dog…
the sheep…
and the beauty…
that is herding!
It was so funny listening to my son while Lora was working with Rose – ‘Lora is the best trainer’ and ‘Look at how fabulous Rose is’ and ‘We should come here every week’ and ‘I can’t believe how good she is doing’. He cracks me up!
After Rose, Gypsy had a go.
Gypsy is a daughter of Nell, my second favorite border collie, right behind my Katie girl.
Here is Nell telling the Cheviots to ‘move’ 🙂
Before we left, Nell brought the sheep up to the barn so I could see the new ram – Sam. He is mostly Blueface and is from Tammy’s farm.
In fact, we visited him when he was a baby. He has grown up a lot!
A good morning with good friends!
Stories from the Farm 
What happened to Rose’s TAIL???
I got to see a border collie work sheep yesterday (see my blog for a couple pix); it was so neat!
Quite a few of the border collies raised in Eastern Oregon have their tails docked. The ranches over there prefer ‘no’ tail. It is NOT my preference, but I have found it beneficial for a 6 year old boy that moves at the speed of lightning and doesn’t take the time to make sure his dog is out of the door before it is closed 😉
Is it easier to train a herding dog on sheep without horns? Seems safer, if nothing else.
@Michelle, I love Jim Chastain and he has “vera fine dogs”! I miss him in the trial world! I need to hook up with him…does he have a web site? Thanks Shannon for the visit! It makes life so much sweeter to share it with friends! Your son has a way with dogs…that is for sure. Sometimes…when my dogs work in the winter, and then wag their tails spreading mud everywhere, I wish they did not have tails either!
Hi Lora! No, I am not aware that the Chastains have a website. They were very gracious Sunday, and I loved seeing their sheep, their farm and his dog Lucky (he’s a three-year-old male from Texas).
It doesn’t really matter if they have horns or not. It depends on the temperament of the sheep and how they have been trained for herding. We have a group of wethers (neutered boys) that are great for starting dogs on. You don’t want the sheep to challenge or be flighty for starting dogs.
I so wish we had a trainer around here for our Sara. She tries so hard but bless her heart we just don’t have the skills to help her with our sheep – she does great with goats for whatever reason.
Goats aren’t as reactionary as sheep, which means the dog isn’t as reactionary and everything moves a little slower 🙂 It sounds like your sheep are going in at night by themselves, which is good!