A Short true
story...
At my canyon country training class there was a break between the arrival of the next wave of students so I let the sheep out to graze. They decided to go up the driveway , go around the house and up on the side of the hill behind the house.
When I decided they had wonder far enough up on the side of the hill and were not grazing any longer this story begins.
The sage brush and other
vegetation was quite high where Easy (my Shetland sheepdog), Tess (my adopted
border collie) and I were watching the sheep from the driveway. I decided to
send Tess up to bring them back to the training area. She ran up and down the
driveway looking for an opening thru the brush but alas it was to high and thick
for her to feel like she could get up the hill. To her it did not seem possible.
OK then , no matter I will try to send Easy. He had already sized up the
problem. He promptly took a run and jumped on top of the bushes and swam his way
across one layer of bushes after another until he reached Rambo Jr. who had
lead his flock up there.
Well, Rambo Jr did not take well
to having his hill climb interrupted by a sheltie who was insisting he turn
around and lead his flock back down the hill. The fight was on Rambo Jr with
his head down trying to clear a path thru this dog blocking his way and Easy
nipping his nose and barking to force him to turn around.
That is all it took to get Tess motivated and she leaped off
over the brushes one row at a time like a steaple chase horse.
Quite a feat going up hill. When she got to the argument between Easy and
Rambo Jr she launch out of the brush and joined their fight, knocking
Rambo Jr off balance and he rolled down the hill thru the brush.
Easy seeing that Tess had this argument covered broke away and picked up
Rambo Jr's Ewe's brought them down an animal path Rambo Jr had
used to get up there to begin with. Easy and the ewes appeared from around
the house in time to meet up Tess and Rambo Jr. Both dogs were
beaming with pride from the team work they had accomplished as they put the
flock together again and penned them.
For me just another day at the office as the next wave of
students arrived.
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