After three weeks of rain and flooding, with the youngest lambs just over a month old, I allowed Zeke to assist me on my morning rounds. It's important that he meet the new animals: the peacock, Tim the ram, the new hens, the lambs. He accepts them, widens the borders of his already giant heart, and extends his protection.
While Frida cowered in her Thundershirt, Zeke paced from the door to the window, begging to be allowed to check on his flock. I told him he wouldn't find them during the storm, they hide under the back deck and in the duck house; the constant lightning and echoing thunder would disorient him as it does the lambs and he would wear himself out searching. He didn't believe me, but I didn't give him a choice.
Zeke lights up when I grab the crook or his leash. As expected, we've suffered some training setbacks. His "down, stay" became "down and creep forward and inch at a time until mom notices". "Here" alternated between "stay" and "run the other direction". He was 70% behaved, and that's something. He didn't chased the ducks, he watched the peafowl from a "down/stay". The peahen remembered him, she stuck her head through the wire of her enclosure and touched his nose. Zeke crept up on the flock while the ewes were eating breakfast, sniffed the lambs' butts, and retreated under the chicken coop. He held the chickens in the corner of the coop with his eye while I cleaned and refilled their food and water and gave them a flake of alfalfa. He works cheap - I gave him an ice cube when we finished; he's afraid of the ice maker but loves to chew ice.
They say the ten minutes a Border Collie spends on the field during a trial mentally exhausts them the rest of the day. When Zeke is given a task early in the day he behaves better the rest of the day. Border Collies find joy in work, they attach themselves to those who provide it. This evening Zeke climbed up the back of the couch and perched over my shoulders like a cat. He's been distant lately, petulant, passive aggressive. Tomorrow his job will be keeping me company to and from Fiber Frenzy. I need to replenish their inventory. He considers navigation and anti-theft his jobs as well. Now that the rain has passed, we'll start working again. By the time we have our fall shearing day I hope to be working with whistles only.
While Frida cowered in her Thundershirt, Zeke paced from the door to the window, begging to be allowed to check on his flock. I told him he wouldn't find them during the storm, they hide under the back deck and in the duck house; the constant lightning and echoing thunder would disorient him as it does the lambs and he would wear himself out searching. He didn't believe me, but I didn't give him a choice.
Zeke lights up when I grab the crook or his leash. As expected, we've suffered some training setbacks. His "down, stay" became "down and creep forward and inch at a time until mom notices". "Here" alternated between "stay" and "run the other direction". He was 70% behaved, and that's something. He didn't chased the ducks, he watched the peafowl from a "down/stay". The peahen remembered him, she stuck her head through the wire of her enclosure and touched his nose. Zeke crept up on the flock while the ewes were eating breakfast, sniffed the lambs' butts, and retreated under the chicken coop. He held the chickens in the corner of the coop with his eye while I cleaned and refilled their food and water and gave them a flake of alfalfa. He works cheap - I gave him an ice cube when we finished; he's afraid of the ice maker but loves to chew ice.
They say the ten minutes a Border Collie spends on the field during a trial mentally exhausts them the rest of the day. When Zeke is given a task early in the day he behaves better the rest of the day. Border Collies find joy in work, they attach themselves to those who provide it. This evening Zeke climbed up the back of the couch and perched over my shoulders like a cat. He's been distant lately, petulant, passive aggressive. Tomorrow his job will be keeping me company to and from Fiber Frenzy. I need to replenish their inventory. He considers navigation and anti-theft his jobs as well. Now that the rain has passed, we'll start working again. By the time we have our fall shearing day I hope to be working with whistles only.
RSS Feed
