Drift with ewes and lambs

[herdcentral]

Hi, well after a pretty eventful lambing where everything that could go wrong did, I finally thought I would post a clip of my young BC Drift working with the ewes I have in the home paddock. They had never been worked by a dog untill several months ago when I had to catch lambs etc and it was chaos with the ewes being pretty protective and aggressive. Drift was the only one of my 3 dogs that could do anything with them and he withstood plenty of charging and ewes scattering in all directions. There is also a bottlefed lamb among them and the ones with rope around their necks are so that I can grab them more easily in the yards as they had a few problems.

 

Anyway he now has them sorted although you can see from the vid that one ewe is always giving trouble, she always has been a troublesome ewe, very flighty and always charging. He has always been a very full on dog and is quite a handful but at age 2 he really is becoming a very useful dog. He has a wonderful cast and will also keep casting out till he has all the sheep if they are scattered. He surprised me the other day by bringing one little group to me and then going back out to muster another group in another section of the paddock and putting them altogether. None of the ewes come naturally to me unlike my whethers that run to my knees, the ewes and lambs are not into that at all and would rather be elswhere.

 

He has always been a hot head but I feel like he really is becoming a very useful dog and I dont really have to give him too many commands. We are both very novice as is proably eveident, but I love working with him and he loves every opportunity to work sheep. I use my other dogs on my easier whethers but he is my ewe and lamb dog. I am about to get quite a few more ewes (also never seen a dog) shortly so that will be another challenge for him.

 

I shot the vid myself so had to leave Drift to his own devices

 

 

 

[Debbie Meier]

Oh that ewe.... needs to have her nose tapped a few times.

[Lana]

I like the fact that he does not seem to have much tension( a very good trait in any working dog!), but it might help to do some work on getting him to walk straight in better. Often ewes with lambs do not like a dog that flanks to move sheep. They see it as weakness and will charge just for that reason.

 

I like how Drift comes right back after they charge, he is very willing. Often bitting a ewe can make it worse if she has a lamb, but some times it has to be done, and then the dog must stay backed off so she can decided to move. If the ewe thinks she will die, she may not go no matter how many bites.

 

Teaching a nose bite if it does not come natural is a good idea. The dog needs to know it can defend itself.

 

You have done a great job with him, and he sounds like a very nice dog.

 

Edited to add.. Drift looks to really know what his job is. He is not over commanded which is very refreshing.

[Laura L]

If that ewe has always been like that I'd want to teach Drift to walk straight on and then if she still is harassing him, to give her a nose bite. It usually only takes a time or two of a dog acting confident to fix a problem like that. Things will get better as he matures. Sheep do an excellent job of reading a dog and knowing what they can get away with. He looks like he's doing a great job and good for you being able to video & work at the same time!

Laura

[juliepoudrier]

Often bitting a ewe can make it worse if she has a lamb, but some times it has to be done, and then the dog must stay backed off so she can decided to move. If the ewe thinks she will die, she may not go no matter how many bites.

 

I agree with what both Laura and Lana said, but wanted to reiterate this part written by Lana. Ewes with lambs are a different kettle of fish--normally nice ewes can be rather combative if they feel at all threatened. Although the dog needs to be able and willing to bite, that doesn't always help, and the dog giving the ewe a chance to decide it's safe to turn and walk away with her lambs is critical.

 

You may both be novices, but it looks like you're doing a good job!

 

P.S. What happened to the ewe who's limping?

 

J.

[herdcentral]

I agree with what both Laura and Lana said, but wanted to reiterate this part written by Lana. Ewes with lambs are a different kettle of fish--normally nice ewes can be rather combative if they feel at all threatened. Although the dog needs to be able and willing to bite, that doesn't always help, and the dog giving the ewe a chance to decide it's safe to turn and walk away with her lambs is critical.

 

You may both be novices, but it looks like you're doing a good job!

 

P.S. What happened to the ewe who's limping?

 

J.

 

Thanks everyone for the comments, they are very helpful as for Drift and me it has been very experimental, which is why I try not to do too much commanding as I find he works better without me interfering too much. That ewe is the only one that has continued to chase him, all they others did as well but don't any more. She is an old foundation ewe that a neighbour gave me, nice bloodlines but difficult to handle. Fortunately her lamb is nothing like her and is very nice. In the yards she will activaly attack Drift, which he handles quite well in close quarters and he has tapped her on the nose a few times but she doesnt give up, last night she was feeling paticularly cranky, possibly because I havent worked them in a couple of weeks.

 

When he walks my other sheep in he usually walks straight in but I guess he has been trying to figure out the best way to deal with this ewe, and I probably havent been overly helpful and that ewe sense any hesitation. My kelpie has no chance with her and runs away, my big koolie is not too bad but he is a big dog and barks in her face if she charges him which seems to work, but it took awhile for him to work out what he needed to do. I am not actually sure if the ewe is quite right in the head sometimes, she has never settled in like the others and is different somehow, although she is a very good mother and her lamb is beautiful.

 

The ewe that is limping also came from my neighbour, I am probably going to have to cull her, like he was. She was the one that went down with that nerve compression while lambing and only one half of her udder is working so I have discovered. She lost both her lambs despite my best efforts. She limps sporadically and I thought she would be okay with me as they dont have to walk far like where she cam from.

Shame because she really has a very nice nature and is very easy to handle. I normally separate her out when I work the ewes and leave her in a pen, just I had to bring them all up from the bottom paddock when I shot the vid. There is nothing I can see outwardly that is causing her to limp so I am figuring an old injury.