The Poultry Keeper

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6973 Location: isle of lewis

if you remember that i have caddie lambs four this year ,
well the 2 big lambs are fine then there is afi and archi ,
2 black face ,harris sheep off the hills ,they are the last of 4 born to one ewe ,they were tiny
i keep my feed in the caravan ,they got their breaakfast ,grass has stopped growing now ,well the sheep decided they wanted more food jumped the fence it was 10 minutes till i had to go to work .
so brought pax out ,
the other sheep turned tail and jumped the fence ,one hitting the branch
it was 4 inches across and snapped it,i'm glad i wasn't in the way
well alfi the smallest ,and he is tiny ,decided he was going to mix it with the dog ,walked straight up although pax was doing his best collie stare ,
pax looked at me he knows i don't approve of chewing anything apart from a bone ,in the mean time i had to get freds back foot out of the fence were it had got caught ,telling pax to back off as he was butted once and stay there ,as a passing comment ,damn sheep went up behind the dog and mounted him Evil or Very Mad

,i had to drag a sheep off the sheep dog Shocked

,poor pax he's never going to live this down, he's going to have to change his name and go around with his hair died ,(the lamb is rung )
the last time alfi bit his tail ,
(i now he needs to go but cannot bring myself to send him to the light lamb cull scheme)
and it'll take a long time to get the dogs confidence back Rolling Eyes

i was scoked anyone else hear of this happening Shocked

and my poor sheep dog is now the laughing stock of the all local sheep dogs

Gilly C · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 2381 Location: South Cumbria

Poor Pax, shame no one there to take pics Rolling Eyes

CP · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:27 am Post subject:

debcat · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:28 pm Post subject:

OH has just about stopped laughing now

he thought I meant one of the normal sized ones at first, not the teeny weeny one

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6973 Location: isle of lewis

he's tiny against thedog Rolling Eyes

bronskibeat · Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 1543 Location: Clawddnewydd

No, I've stopped laughing now for fear of dire retribution!! Poor, poor Pax. Cade lambs are little s*ds and they are now the first ones I get rid of for that very reason as they cause me unmitigated misery. They are the reason, in sheer desperation, I taught Zac to bite as they have absolutely NO respect for the dogs. Mind you, I could lend you my lurcher, as she escaped in with the ewes and they were oh so good for about 3 days after that Laughing

Seriously though, if he has lost his confidence you need to work him with "good" sheep for a while to restore his confidence. Once the sheep know they have bested the dog, you're bu*****d as he will continue to down tools when the going gets tough. I despaired of Zac ever being able to work my blues but, not sure if its because he has hit 3yrs old, he just seems to have clicked and can now move them without too much trouble, even the rams Very Happy

Though I have absolutely no doubt that once food is involved it will all descend into utter chaos once again Rolling Eyes

Long length of alkathene piping will no doubt come in handy then (not for Zac I hasten to add Laughing

)

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6973 Location: isle of lewis

don't worry bb ,i know the implications of ,what happened Wink

,
and i must admit ,i put the bit about the branch so that people could get an idea of just how strong the b*ggers can be,
north came out and they are being really good again Wink

i had a lutcher i'm afraid he never chased anything ever apart from his ball Rolling Eyes

nonie was just pionting out behind me as i'm typing that pax is a good dog for flighty sheep but is not sure when they chalange he is 5 now didn't start with sheep till he was over 3 nearly four and he's a pure collie obedience lines so he isn't bad Wink

bronskibeat · Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 1543 Location: Clawddnewydd

I wish the ball was the only thing Twiggy chased but she has absolutely no interest in anything that isnt furry with legs Rolling Eyes

I started Zac again on lighter sheep and it has made a huge difference to his attitude to the blues. I'm sure Pax will be fine, after all he has you guys to look after him when the lambs dont behave Laughing

It just brings back all my traumas when someone else has problems. I lost my top dog and best friend Moss (sorry to sound melodramatic but he really was, we went everywhere together and I miss him like crazy Crying or Very sad

) with cancer when he was coming 8 and Zac was only 6 months old. I almost hated Zac because I felt so disloyal to Moss having to care for Zac and Drift when all I wanted was Moss back. It sounds so awful now, but I would willingly have swopped Zac and Drift to get Moss back. Poor boys. It took me ages to build up a rapport with Zac and I'm afraid I was less than patient with him which was so unfair as he was only a little baby and was expected to work the sheep. I nearly ruined Zac and it took getting Storm from Derek to realise just what I had got in Zac. We are good mates now and have a pretty fair working partnership all things considered but I have to accept he is not, and will never, be Moss. He was a once in a lifetime dog that was taken from me before his time and I would give my right arm for him back. Thats why I feel so acutely for any sheepdog having a tough time with pigheaded sheep, it makes me so ashamed of how unforgiving I was with Zac through no fault of his own Embarassed

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6973 Location: isle of lewis

yep ,i had one like that ,i had a gsd troy ,she was 7 ,at dog traing she was my right hand ,she was the gsd that a really great freind breed i'd booked one pup and when i went round to get it ,she said the pup i'd choosen wasn't the one for me ,the little hyper pup was the one ,she went to classes all of her life ,she did scent ,i lost my keys over the feild a couple of times ,but she would find them for me ,she also raised quite a lot of money for charities ,i taught her to unload the washing machine Embarassed

,she was bomb proof if i did a demonstation with her ,when we came out if she ended up in a huge group of children ,i knew they would be ok ,i lost her 5 years ago ,i understand totally ,
pax or shana my gsd i have now a rescue at 5
they play a song at work on the shop tape work that i used to practise my footwork to ,everytime i hear it,i think of her
your little maggot has the same effect Very Happy

pax will be fine he doesn't really have to work just without doing the obedience ,i wanted to find him something else to do other wise Wink

i wouldn't have bothered

bronskibeat · Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 1543 Location: Clawddnewydd

Moss had a song too, it was Eternal and CC Wyman "The only one" and every time they sang "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" he got really excited. It still makes me cry now when I hear it. I will post a new photo of the hairy maggot, you almost wont recognise him now, he's growing like a weed Laughing

He has amber eyes Cool

and is going through teenage delinquency stage Rolling Eyes