Happy to the Max!

Oh happy day! Max and I are thrilled!

We have been grazing 45 mixed breed hair sheep (sheep that have hair like a goat rather than wool) this year. The owner said they were not bred ewes, but it turns out they have been lambing in the pasture since the end of spring.

Worried that an untreated umbilical on the lamb might easily get infected, that the mother might not be able to get to water to help her milk, and that coyotes might be looking for a tasty treat, I keep phoning the owner of the sheep come and pick up the ewe and lamb(s) each time there is a birth.

I believe today’s lamb was a few days old as I saw that it and its mother were far outrunning the husband and wife—owners of the sheep—as they went back and forth on the fence line with the flock of sheep, and when the new mother and lamb ran off to the center of the pasture. Unfortunately they have no trained sheepdog either. So I told them, “You won’t be able to outrun them.” And I took our Max out to help.

Like any Border Collie worth its name, Max has always loved to work. But he was not up to snuff as a competition dog when he was young. So, when Connie and I were looking for a dog to take up the slack, as our prime working dogs were getting old, our friend, Gordon Watt, arranged for Anne Spearman to give Max to us. Not being a competition dog, Max was not getting worked, and sheepdogs are happiest when they are working. So Max has been our working dog for a couple of years now.

Today the work Max had to do was crucial. I sent him out to gather all the sheep, which he did in a flash. But the new mother and lamb broke off from the others, and Max left them behind to work the flock.

Now, this was something I’ve been working on with Max—to take the “look back” command and leave his chosen sheep to go back and gather others. It’s a hard thing for a sheepdog to do—to quit working one bunch and go looking for others.

Today he did it the very first time I asked. He went back and picked up the black and white mother and her tiny black lamb.

I stepped off to the side so that Max would work the pair to me and not try to re-gather the whole flock.  He got the idea and held the pair to me. He put just the right amount of pressure on the mother to hold her attention, and I was able to quietly come up behind and grab the mother’s back leg, and lift it high to immobilize her. With my right hand keeping the crook and leg high, I cupped the mother’s chin with my left, and was able to hold her tight and quiet.

At that, co-owner of the sheep, Brooke, ran up and shouted, “That was like magic!”

Yes it was. Max was happy. While I held the mother, he went back to gather the rest of the flock. He was just getting started. But I spoke to him and he realized what he didn’t do was as important as what he did do. So he moved the sheep about a bit and then answered my call to come and lie down quietly so Chauncey could drive his truck over and put the ewe and lamb safely in a cage in the back.

Max was happy. I could tell by the way he looked at me, and the way he came off the field, knowing he had done something important.

And I was happy. This was the weekend of one of my favorite herding dog trials of many years gone by—the “Crook and Whistle Trial” at Jefferson, Wisconsin. I was thinking these days that I sure do miss competing. But doing practical flock work like this, and seeing how Max was learning to leave his sheep and “look back” for others, was what it’s all about. It’s far more pleasing and fulfilling than winning any blue ribbons.

My doggie partner and I are happy to the Max!