August 14, 2007: Roy goes Gathering for the First Time
With the foot and mouth scare starting to ease, life seems to be starting to return to normal - whatever that is! We were back out gathering on the hill over the weekend and the start of the week. Angie decided it was time to take her young dog, Roy, out onto the hill to widen his experience.

Away we all went. Blade and Kelvin, along with Hugh and Moss, go up to the top of the hill to gather the backside of the hill first. They push the sheep over the top of the hill and part way down the hill toward Angie, Roy and Bailey, who wait in the valley below. As little packets of sheep appear over the hilll, Angie's job is to send Roy up the hill for them and bring them down to the bottom of the valley and then push them up to a central gathering point up the valley.

The first outrun of the day for Roy was, unfortunately, through dense bracken fern which serves only to seriously disorient a dog. Since there is no bracken fern in the training fields, this was going to be a tall order for an inexperienced dog...and it was. Angie decided to walk up toward the sheep and send Roy when he could better sight the sheep. Of course, as soon as these wily ewes spied Roy, off they sprinted uphill again. Thankfully they followed the quad bike track up the hill which gave Roy a chance to see where they were. Once he had their location firmly etched in his brain, he managed to outrun to the sheep quite easily and send them on their way to the valley floor. By this time, we were quite high up on the hill and while Roy worked about 300 yards away from Angie, Angie and Bailey scrambled down the hill, mostly on their backsides!

The next outrun for Roy was an easier one so by the time we got to his third trip up for the sheep, he was starting to get the hang of things. Just as well. The third outrun was up a very steep incline, peppered with rocky outcrops, a nasty scree slope which fell away at the weight of a dog, and dense bracken fern all around. Just as Angie was thinking bringing Roy was not such a good idea, he surprised the heck out of her by deftly moving the sheep around the various obstacles and easily down to the valley. Of course, just as quickly as one stands back to admire one's dog, things can go wrong. A group of sheep decided to cross the burn onto the hill opposite, and make their getaway for another group of sheep from a different heft. Not good!

There are many skills a dog needs to be a good hill dog and right at that moment Angie was questioning whether Roy had all the skills required for this situation. Would he cross the burn? Would he go up after these sheep? And what was Plan B (and C) if he didn't?

'Come bye' she sang to Roy and with great enthusiasm Roy bounded into the burn and up the other side. While he got across the burn, he came in under the sheep. Oh crikey, Angie thought, would he take a look back since he has not had much training for this. "Look" she said. No response. "Look," again. No response. The sheep started to bolt further uphill. "Look." No response again. "Look." Roy continued to lie down. Before despair set in and as the sheep continued their uphill escape, Angie thought time for Plan B...send him 'come bye' and then try a look back command 'on the fly' followed by a flank command. We had tried that in training the week previous so with nothing to lose at this point, that was worth a try. Plan C was for Angie to cross the burn, run uphill and fetch these sheep back - not a good, or even workable, plan! 'Come bye' Angie called, and as Roy moved to his left she said 'look.' This time Roy looked back and sighted his sheep. At the instant he saw the sheep, Angie called 'Away' and off he went, up the hill in the most perfect of outruns one could ask for. There is great pleasure in watching a dog 300 yards opposite you across a valley doing the very things you spend so much time training them to do...and doing it on very difficult terrain, in a real-life practical situation. But, with no time to stand and admire, Roy continued to nicely work these sheep back across the burn, and get on their merry way up the valley with the flock. Unbeknownst to Angie, Kelvin, Blade, Hugh and Moss were standing at the top of the hill watching all of this - first with their hearts and in their mouths, and then with delight (for Kelvin) and relief (for Hugh)!

Once all the sheep had congregated on the valley floor, Angie, Roy, Kelvin, Blade, and Bailey quietly drove the sheep back down the valley to the pens. The dogs all like this job, although they have to be reminded not to rush the sheep. Sheep successfully in the pens, Roy seemed very pleased with himself but keen to do it all again. Judging by his next day on the hill, he learnt alot! His enthusiasm level is at an all time high and he is now first to line up at the truck in the morning in hopes it is his turn today. He is going to make a great hill dog!

Roy - and Angie - still have lots to learn but they have to start somewhere. We are blessed to be able to work with the likes of Hugh, Gwen, and Richard who are very patient with our inexperience and that of our dogs, who don't seem to mind that we take longer than most folks would to get things done, and who sometimes see things go oh so wrong.We will forever be indebted to these people for allowing us to have the time of our lives!

Archives:
August 7, 2007 Foot and Mouth Scare
August 3, 2007 Country bumpkins go to London
July 28, 2007 Whales and Wales
July 21, 2007 Blood sampling ewes.
July 16, 2007 A week of gathering sheep