We were coming home from our walk, Sam and I, with all the dogs loose when suddenly the trainer mob, all 20 of them decided to come and investigate us.
Balto responded accordingly. I ran up the hill calling loudly in an effort to distract but too late, he was under the fence and in. I grabbed Zinc and locked him up while Sam locked up Yindi. By then Mango and Tonka where racing up and down the fence trying to join in the fun, and Caleb, Angel and Dolly where already in with the sheep.
You’d think the older dogs would know better but it was Caleb and Angel who were the most trouble. Sam grabbed Mango and put her away, Lara and Drift sensibly kept away, Rio was locked up being in season.
Balto didn’t actually do much harm and was working the mob nicely, moving out wide and covering, but he was hampered in his efforts as the other three were bringing them the other way. I stopped Balto with a sit command and ordered Caleb out, but he decided he could not possible squeeze back under the fence, so I grabbed him but in doing so Balto escaped again and was off. By now I was pretty mad and said a few words I don't usually use, amidst some loud shouting.
I finally grabbed Balto, got Caleb and Angel stopped and out of the way, (Dolly had already snuck off) and tried to calm down. Tonka remained outside the fence thankfully.
The whole thing was worse as I had recently recovered from another six day migraine and was feeling a bit fragile.
Fortunately no harm was done and it seems amusing now, but it could have been a bit of a disaster.
But wait there's more.
Since I wrote the previous report there has been another little ‘mishap’. I took the dogs for a long walk this morning as it was lovely and cool. We walked to the top of a hill and I stopped to admire the view, then noticed Balto was missing. After a moment her appeared with the whole mob of about 400 ewes mustered neatly and bringing them to me. I panicked momentarily,my biggest fear that he would work until he collapsed, as he is that sort of dog.
I noticed Dolly was helping him. Silly old dog, she’s getting a bit deaf and never used to do this sort of thing. And then Angel joined in. I had all the dogs loose so could do nothing but run the other way as fast as I could, calling all the others. The wind was blowing hard the wrong way and I couldn’t get close enough to call Angel off.
Balto, Dolly and Angel just kept bringing the mob towards us so we kept moving. Finally Balto came into view around the side and I called him and to my great relief ( and answered Prayer) he came running, and I quickly slipped the lead on.
I knew Angel and Dolly would do no harm, so I took all the dogs into the next paddock so they wouldn’t be tempted and headed home. After a while Dolly came too but no sign of Angel. It took me a fair while to walk home and lock up all the other dogs and head back out on the bike to find Angel. I spotted the mob near the gate just standing quietly, Angel had bought them as close to home as she could. They were not even panting. I called her off and headed back. There is not much point being cross, too late for that. Despite how annoying it can be, it is a useful trait to have a dog that will bring a mob home by themself. She would never bite or push too hard, so in a way it was good to see she could do it, however had she been a real full on pushy dog, things might have been different.
Too many episodes like this and I will be a nervous wreck. I will have to take more notice of where the sheep are when I run the dogs too. Young dogs can be a bit impulsive at times, and we can't blame them for following their instinct and wanting to work a very tempting mob of sheep. Usually as they get older they get more controllable. (except in Dolly's case). It is important not to allow it to happen though as with a young dogs they can physically harm themselves, as they have no self control at this stage, I was lucky Balto came when I called him.
Balto is quite a little character. He was being naughty the other day, annoying Rio, so I threw a short length of poly pipe at him, not to hurt, just to get him to pay attention. It bumped him in the legs and he promptly picked it up and raced away with it. He loves to be chased, my fault as I have tried to do it when he wont come when I call, and he is quite uncatchable. He will pick up an old bone on our walk and try to get another dog to chase him by waving it under their nose. I don’t allow them to chase him, so he runs to me and dances in front, saying ‘ I’ve got a bone, Na na na na na,’ as he knows I don’t like the dogs carrying bones. However I now just ignore him and after a while he drops it in disgust. Sometimes he'll stand in front of me to try to stop me walking, and leap up as I get close, but this doesn't work either as I just walk through him.
I bought a new dog training book, and Balto really enjoyed it, as you can see.
He is improving in most areas, though, and starting to listen to me and working more calmly. The biggest problem with him apart from being accident prone is that he doesn’t know when to stop racing around and gets exhausted if I don't watch him.
I had a few people come over on Sat for a bit of a training day, and we did some casting as well as some yard work.
Andrew Gorton’s Kelpie Ramulan Pepsi (Ramulan Fred X Badgingarra Faye ) is not happy about backing in the yard so Andrew has taught her to burrow underneath the sheep instead which can be just as effective. His other dog BC Kelpie cross Ramulan Hope (Ramulan Doug X Jarrah) tends to be a bit sticky eyed. Young dogs can be a bit like this but usually with training and work they free up. Working big mobs can help. Hope has improved hugely in a few months. The trick is to keep them moving and not allow them to stop and stare.
Andrew had an argument with one of his White Dorper ram’s recently and the ram won, hence the walking stick that accompanied him, and the swollen knee.
 Hayden Harries bought along his magnificent dog, Alboa Ben. Ben is by Ken Athertons NZ import Kiwi Knight, out of Hayden’s Boylee Kelly. He is a huge dog, as all of the Knight pups seem to be, very calm and biddable but with plenty of strength. He will shortly trial and it will be interesting to see how he goes.
Karen Buller bought along her crew and we tried Monty and Yindi in the yard and they were pretty impressive. Both were happy to back the sheep and had plenty of push.
Angel cast impressively but Caleb still has a fair way to go before I can get a reasonable cast out of him, he simply likes to stay in close.
We had a visit from a new couple. It is always great to meet new people. Luke and daughter Jacinta came from Mandurah with their BC Kelpie cross to try on sheep. Caddy showed no interest in sheep unfortunately. She is a rescue dog of unknown breeding, and although she likes to round up most things she decided sheep were not one of them. It’s possible she may still ‘switch on’ but it could take time.
I know of a number of people who have picked up rescue dogs that have turned out to be good working dogs. People buy them as pets than discover they have far too much energy for a back yard, so they go into rescue.
Probably too many are put down as well. In my belief working dogs should not be sold as pets unless people have a real understanding of their requirements. Work dogs however can be just as happy doing any of the various dog sports such as agility, obedience or jumping as it seems to fulfill the needs of a high energy dog.
On a much more serious note, my thoughts and Prayers go out to anyone involved in the dreadful fire disaster in Victoria. Not only many lives have been lost but one also thinks of the many pets and livestock that died too. Very, very sad. The most dreadful thing is that the fires may have been lit deliberately.
Fires are always a worry here, we try to keep a big firebreak around the house, and watch out for smoke especially when there is a storm. We just Pray it will never happen to us and we have a fire plan.
Australia has at last had a win in the cricket, and in a wonderful gesture all the proceeds from the Tue 10th NZ Aust match will go to the bushfire victims and black armbands will be worn in respect.
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