Sheep!!!

Buzz was supposed to go on sheep earlier this week, but there was a glitch. We went to the farm, he smelled the sheep, but it was no go because the trainer was ill. After that, he refused to be cute for pictures. He was in an awesome pose until I took this shot. Gah! Buzz was on strike!


Luckily, the trainer recovered from her illness quickly, so Buzz got his first herding lesson this evening. So, here's what happened from my perspective; remember, I know close to nothing about herding. :)

The trainer put three sheep in her smallest pen. They use the small pen so that it is easy for the trainer to intervene. The sheep didn't really want an untrained dog to go in the pen with them. You can see the "oh, shit!" look on their faces.


This is Buzz right after the trainer released him. He is wearing a long line so that she can easily grab him.


Buzz carried his tail up most of the time he was in with the sheep. This typically means that the dog is unsure of what to do/is just having fun/is not in a "working" mindset.


It seemed like Buzz has potential; too early to really say, though. It would've been nice for the tail to go all the way down. The good news was that Buzz was definitely interested in the sheep and I felt like he listened to the trainer fairly well considering how excited he was (I kind of expected him to completely ignore her!)



Buzz preferred to circle the sheep clockwise, but when the trainer turned him around, he could move the sheep by circling counter-clockwise, too.




Buzz was in with the sheep for about ten minutes and he ran hard the entire time; the trainer heard him wheezing which is why he didn't stay in longer.






After his romp in the pen, Buzz got to cool off in a trough like a real border collie!