While I was weeding I thought I should rotate the sheep around. We have 2 flocks. One flock is the ewes and ewe lambs and the other is the rams and the ram lambs. To be efficient we graze them on a good grass / alfalfa for a few hours and then put them back in their paddocks to rest for a few hours.
Now those of you that use herding dogs will understand this following scenerio very well. The only one hurt in the making of this production was me.
I decided to use one of the younger inexperienced dogs, how else are they going to learn? Famous last words. So I choose Rosie...
She has been working well but she is what some people might describe as a little "hot". The idea was go out and get the flock and bring them into the paddock. Two fetches was all it should take. Rosie had a memory lapse and forgot what "lie down" was and when we got to the paddock the sheep went right by the gate except for the 5 that went in with Rosie behind them.
Now in the meantime, the two older Liverstock Guardian Dogs decided to get into a very vocal discussion over a bone.....so as I watching this, I neglected to see Rosie's sheep coming out of the shed in the paddock at a high rate of speed, knocking me butt over tea kettle with Rosie in pursuit.
"X" marks the spot where I landed...Do you see the dent?
After jumping up and getting control of the situation, Rosie had a couple "lie down" lessons and we finished up our chores.
The sheep are of course just happy to eat and aren't at all concerned about the "hit and run".
Took a couple advil, phoned a "dog friend", had a great laugh because we have all been there and decided tonight's training schedule would include heading back into the round pen for some close up training.
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