A new sheepdog puppy! Meet Peppa (with photos)

Peppa came to us on Thursday 30th May. She's a purebred Border Collie girl that is bred from working lines.

A little sweety by nature, she's fitting in beautifully with the family and even had a go at chasing one of the stray ewes today.

When the ewe ran off, Peppa took off in hot pursuit. The ewe, in her wisdom, tried to run through the fence to get away from this little puppy. Whilst I untangled the ewe, my husband picked up the pup, but not before she gave the ewe a really good telling off!

Even when I had freed the ewe, and had sent her in the direction of the other mob of sheep, Peppa voiced her displeasure at being held (or was it because she caught the ewe and I was letting it go) and proceeded to complain whilst in the arms of my husband.

On the way back up to the house, little Peppa grew another 2 inches taller she was that proud of herself! Her tail was up and wagging, her head held high and she was one happy, and a little tired, little puppy.

A long, messy afternoon!

A couple of days ago we decided it was time to bring all of the sheep in, drench them all (lambs included) and draft off the sale ewes. This we did.

However, we needed to move the sheep and lambs through two paddocks before pushing them into the paddock with the yards in it. We had to leave one ewe behind as she had lambed only a couple of days beforehand and I didn't want her to go into the yards and risk her lamb getting injured in the squash up!

So, with the help of my husband on the quad bike, and Jock, we proceeded to try and bring them up. Jock hadn't had much work due to all the ewes lambing recently and the fact that most of our property is without grass and under water and soggy. We don't tend to do much with the sheep during these times, and as it is starting to get really cold, I don't want the dog chasing the sheep around and running any fat off them.

Well, Jock had his ears painted on. I must say that I lost my temper with him a couple of times, and had to yell quite a bit. In the end, he settled down, burnt off his excess energy and enthusiasm, and started working solidly. He brought all of the ewes up quietly and with some help from the kids, we pushed the sheep into the yards.

After drafting off the sellers, I used Jock to take them to the other side of the property into the sale paddock (this has good grass and is usually kept for fattening). He worked quite well but was still a bit disobedient. When this was done, we went back to the yards to take the second group back to their paddock. We had to retrieve the ewe and lamb we had left behind and push her back into the mob, but Jock had trouble seeing her due to it getting dark quite quickly.

In the end, with all of us tired and a lot muddier than we started out, we got the job done and got to rest for the night.

Jock did the job, and although it was a help, he certainly wouldn't have won any awards for his efforts!

Coming into his own (with photo/s)

Well, I hope that everyone has had a very merry christmas (or whatever you celebrate) and a happy and safe new year.

All was quiet in this household, with the kids thoroughly enjoying themselves, and us taking pleasure in watching them play around with their prezzies.

Jock took a break from training for a few months and he seems to have really benefited from it.

We no longer have my favourite woolly sheep any more as they had to go off to market. We didn't have enough grass to feed everyone, especially with the addition of 20 black headed Dorpers mid August of last year. The weather had been kind to us, but over the last month, the grass has burnt off to the extent that we are pulling fencelines down and doubling our paddock size.

These 20 Dorpers consisted of 19 maiden ewes and 1 mature ram. Sadly, we lost one ewe to rectal prolapse, bringing the number of girls down to 18.

In late November of last year, they started lambing, and we were blessed with 11 healthy lambs from 10 ewes. (Yes, one girl had twins, and she was a maiden!).

Out of the 11 lambs, we now have 6 ewe lambs, 4 wethers and we've kept one as a ram, now known as Bam Bam. I named the ram that we bought with the girls. It was a toss up between Fred and Barney, from the Flinstones. He became Barney, which means I just had to name his son Bam Bam.

Above photo is the grass BEFORE it burnt off.

These Dorper sheep do NOT work the same as other sheep we have worked. Unlike the 'whites', these guys do not run. As Jock circles them, they turn to watch his progress. Even the lambs will stay put and watch the show.
For the last 6 months or so I have been trying to teach Jock to give the sheep some room. He was just getting the hang of it when I realised that if he was more than 6 feet behind the sheep, they wont move!

Yesterday he successfully gathered up the sheep, and after about 15 minutes of him pushing from behind and each side, we got them into the yard. We weren't putting them in the yard for any reason other than as an exercise for Jock, so no gates were shut.

Tonight he did an even better job of it. I carry a horse lunging whip which I will crack if Jock is not listening. Sometimes when he is well out behind the sheep he doesn't pay attention when I give a command. A quick crack of the whip and he's looking at me, waiting for direction.

Don't be mistaken, he  is NEVER hit with the whip, I never crack it near him and he is NOT afraid of it. He is respectful of it when we are around the sheep, but when there isn't a sheep in sight, he loves to chase the end of it. Just another game of his.

So, he's just turned 14 months old and can successfully gather all of the sheep up together in the paddock, push them quietly through the gateway and guide them into the yards.

Not bad, given I've never trained a working dog before!

Below is Jock cooling off the best way he knows how! (wonder what the sheep think of him sitting in their water?!)

New Editions to the family! (with photo's)

Lately we've been keeping a close eye on a couple of our ewes because they are due to lamb.

Last night started it all, with the birth of a little white ram lamb from our black ewe Aretha. Due to having a fox running around the boundary, I didn't want to leave her out in the open with her newborn (and I suspected she still had another lamb to birth) so with the help of Tony, we moved ALL of the sheep up close to the house.

Below is a photo of me convincing Aretha that I wasn't going to hurt her lamb, and to follow me...... thanks for the happy snap Tony.

With everyone safely up around the house, I decided about two hours later to check on Aretha and her newborn, only to discover that not only had she birthed the second lamb, but also a third!!! She's had triplets!

There are 2 little ewe lambs (one black and white, one white) and 1 little ram lamb. All appear to be doing well, although the little white lamb is being watched closely, just in case I need to top her up with some lamb milk.

So far, they are still separated from the rest of the sheep, but I expect them to go back to the flock within the next few days!

Photo's of our new sheep, and some classic Jock shots too!

So much has been happening here the last few days that I've gotten behind in my Blog updates, but all of that is about to change.

In the last week we managed to find, and purchase our first purebred Black Headed Dorper Ewes, plus a registered, purebred ram.

We've had Dorpers before, but not the black headed ones, and found them a little surprising. They seem to be less fussy when it comes to what they eat, and they also do a much better job grazing than my other sheep have been doing. They are slightly smaller than my other ewes, but seem less flighty, more inclined to take things in their stride.

When they finally arrived, they had spent almost 8 hours in the trailer, but careful handling and driving by the gentleman who delivered meant that when they finally did get here, they looked like they'd only been travelling for about 10 minutes!

Below are some photo's of these girls, and the ram who I have nicknamed Barney (from the Flintstones!).

I also managed to get some more photo's of Jock whilst he was playing. As you can see, the stick is more enticing than the watering can right now.

Enjoy!

Some of the Black Headed Dorper girls that we bought recently

More Dorper girls

A lovely panoramic view of the sheep (new and old) and the Willow Tree just starting to grow leaves again for Springtime!

Jock with the latest toy. This stick provides him with hours of fun and multiple bruises for me as he rushes past and hits me on the back of the legs with it!

Jock is 'full-pounce' mode!

He's run off his feet!!!

Well, Jock has certainly earned his food this last week.

My sheep refuse to stay where they are put, so today I decided that enough was enough!

With Jocks help, we managed to move the sheep out of the paddock they were in, through another paddock (that I might add has heaps of obstacles), and into the last paddock where they will stay until I can get the rest of the fencing sorted out.

Jock is progressing surprisingly fast. He is now reading the sheep much better and is able to anticipate their next moves. He's also responding very well to voice commands, and I'm hoping to change him over to whistle commands in the coming months.

Today we did a lot of work on slowing him down. If he got closer than 15 feet from the sheep, I'd put a stop on him, wait for the sheep to move off a little more and then tell him to 'walk up'. He still hasn't entirely grasped the concept of 'walk up' but he is getting the idea. With him walking and stopping and then walking again, I was able to stop the sheep heading for the gate they came out of and down to the new paddock gate. At one stage I needed Jock to come around to the flank to stop them making a run for it, which he did, and then went back to following them again.

When they made a run for the gate into the new paddock, I knew that Jock would want to head them and bring them back, so I called him off, which he did almost willingly (I say 'almost' because had I been less firm with my command, he would have happily circled the sheep again and brought that back to me) and came and sat on my foot. Not, at my foot, but actually sat ON it. That way he knows where I am without looking! Smart pup, but a hazard if I have to walk off!

So, with my ewes only about 3 weeks off lambing, Jock is now out of work. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll separate the ewe lambs off for working and leave the others in peace. If I can't, then he gets a break until I can find some more sheep to work him on.

I'm not sure what level he is supposed to be at in his training or at his age, but to give you an idea of where he is up to, I'll list them below:

1. He stops when I give the 'Stand' command (98% of the time).
2. He casts round to the left on 'come-bye'.
3. He casts round to the right on 'way'.
4. He walks up on the sheep when commanded (50%).
5. He will come off the sheep when called (99% of the time).
6. He stays by my leg when walking around or through the sheep without trying (too hard) to round them up (85% of the time)
7. He gathers them all up in a tight bunch when I cast him and brings them to me (95% of the time)
8. He goes back for strays on the "look back" command (80% of the time with prompting).
9. He stops and blocks gateways when required so that I can get the gate closed properly.

So, he can't run the fenceline and gather all of the sheep without going too quick, and he pushes them up on me really fast if I don't 'check' him, but other than that, I think for a pup who is yet to hit the 9 month old milestone (16th August), he is doing exceptionally well, don't you think?

I'm proud of my Jock, and proud of myself for having helped him to get to where he is (and where we are) today!

He did a fantastic job! (with pic!)

Today, Jock was required to help me with the sheep.

He's only eight and a half months old and has had lots of broken training. Intense and then nothing, then intense again!

Well, today he did a beautiful job for me. I wanted to have a look at a couple of my ewes but I no longer have any yards set up (moving them to a more suitable area) so I have to rely on Jock bringing the sheep to me in the paddock and holding them in place. It probably would have been easier for both of us if I'd picked a corner to work in, but the middle of the paddock seemed to work out well.

After checking over the sheep, I decided to put Jock through his paces. Below is a diagram (albeit rough) of where I got Jock to put the sheep, and he did it every time!

Andy Nickless posted this:

The Definition of a Sheepdog.
My definition of when the dog you're training becomes a sheepdog.

Imagine your sheep had escaped ("surely not," I hear you cry - "our sheep NEVER escape")and are roaming your neighbour's fields. Your only dog is the youngster you have at home, just in the early stages of his training. Would you take that dog to help get the sheep back in, or would you call a friend and ask him to bring his dog - leaving the trainee secure in the kennel where he can do no harm? If you'd take the trainee - because you're reasonably confident that between you, you can get the sheep back into your field, then (in my opinion) he's a sheepdog.

I mention that because every one of those "rescues" became a sheepdog that I would take with me to get the sheep back in.

Some were certainly a lot better than others, but I'd have taken any of them to get my sheep in if I had no other dog. Having said that though, some of the ten dogs had big problems (not of their own making) which I had to overcome. If you start off with a young dog which is from good working stock, you're likely to find training a lot easier.   on his website.

Today, I agree that my pup is very quickly becoming a sheepdog!

I am proud of my dog, and proud of myself as well!

PS. If you want to hear more from Andy Nickless, check out his site at:

http://www.herding-dog-training-border-collie-sheepdog-dvd.com/herding_sheepdog_stock_dog_training.htm

for some fantastic tips, tricks and insights!