Rainy Dog Daze..

In our quest to ensure the happiness and fulfillment of our newest adopted dog, Jack, a Miniature Australian Shepherd, we decided (or should I say I decided and Brian came along for the ride) to try sheepherding. Though he appears to be a very happy, healthy dog, I wanted to make sure he wasn’t missing out on anything his little heart might desire. Saturday morning, we arose at 6 a.m….errr..actually Brian arose…I arose a short while later (after coffee was brewed and one eye managed to open), dressed in heavy raingear and boots, packed up Jack and all the things we thought we might need, and headed out the 40 minutes to the sheepherding farm, where a day-long clinic was being held. Jack was scheduled for an evaluation that afternoon (we didn’t know the time until we arrived or perhaps would not have dragged ourselves out of bed at such an hour on a rainy Saturday) and we were left to observe the evaluations and training of others throughout the morning. The dogs and trainer were amazing. Some dogs were absolute naturals, others needed a little more work, but all seemed to know exactly what to do with sheep. I eagerly awaited our turn to see what our little Jack would do.

After lunch, Jack had his time in the sun (literally and figuratively, as the sun came out just before his evaluation). Into the evaluation pen he went, spectators all around, watching in suspense to see what this little mini aussie would do. He was greeted by the instructor, and we waited for the sheep to come in. Once the sheep were safely in, he was walked over to the sheep, then let go. He looked at the sheep, looked ‘round. Um…”Where’s Dad? Where’s Mom? Oh, there he is! Hey, that dog’s barking over there, what’s that? Oh look there’s mom, hi mom! Ooooh the water…oh hey, I’m free!” Run like the wind! And he did, except not towards the sheep! The instructor proceeded to ask the spectators, “Is this dog paying attention to the sheep? NOOOO!” And indeed he wasn’t. Little Jack paid attention to everything around him, and very little attention to the sheep. The instructor asked Brian to chase the sheep around, perhaps even catch the sheep, to try to get Jack interested and see if his instinct would kick in. Brian chased the sheep, and Jack chased Brian, around and around they went! Occasionally, Jack would decide something else was more interesting, and take off the opposite direction, leaving Brian foolishly chasing the sheep alone.

Soooo…that was our Saturday adventure. I went home tired and happy, knowing our little fur-baby didn’t feel deprived of sheep. For some reason, Brian went home disappointed – that he would no longer have the opportunity to herd sheep. Sometime during the day, unbeknownst to me, he had become a sheepherding convert. Do they offer lessons for people?