sheepandakom

I have Border Leicester and really enjoy them. Mine are both dog training sheep and show sheep and I haven't had any problems. Sheep shows aren't like dog shows in that you could go almost every weekend so the sheep aren't handled too much. My sheep are shown only 2-3 times a year and are only handled for vaccines/wormings, health papers, and fitting just before the shows. My Border Leicesters don't act any different than my Cheviots that have never been shown. I haven't seen any problem in using show sheep for dog training, but I do have a flock of almost 60. Emily

I have a kennel license for 50 dogs and have never had more than 12 adults at the house. My own plus rescues. I'm in Henrico, Hanover's neighbor. When I got my kennel license I had to show the county where my "kennel" was located to make sure it complied with the set backs but other than that they didn't ask for anything else and have never looked at my rabies certificates. I thought quick and told them my barn which is well off the property lines with houses on them was my kennel. Because Henrico is fairly urban very few properties meet their zoning/setback requirements for a kennel so I think there hasn't really been a push to regulate kennels as much. My vet is great and hadn't been sending the rabies stuff to the county like they wanted him to. When he finally complied, I received a pile of bills for individual licenses. I called the county to remind them that I already paid and they started to tell me that I needed to mail all of the bills back with a note. I told them that I wasn't willing to waste the $ on stamps and they put me through to the dog license lady. It turns out that they were matching the rabies certificates to licenses by the owner's name, not just the address. Anybody who had the vet records in their spouse's name or with/without their middle name (me) got duplicate bills. I think the whole thing is just ridiculous and intrusive. I start at Hanover on Tuesday, but I'm working for the Commonwealth's Attorney's office so I'll be dealing mostly with crimes. Emily

1. Where did you get yours? After misplacing two fiberglass working sticks in pretty quick succession, I decided to make my own. The first two came from Border Collies in Action. The three replacements came from Home Depot. I decided to make three because heat shrink and rubber screw caps came in multiples of three. 2. How much did you pay for it? About a dollar each for the white fiberglass rods (driveway markers). I almost didn't get to buy them though because they only came up yellow in the computer and the ones I had in my hand were white. It was April and I decided to check out in the garden center at home depot. The cashier was unwilling to charge me for yellow sticks because I had white sticks in my hand. She sent several people back to the hardware dept. to look and they couldn't find a price for white driveway markers. Meanwhile, the people behind me with carts full of mulch and flowers were getting angry. I am sure they were all thinking, "why does she care so much about those stupid sticks!" I let three or four customers go ahead of me while I held my ground on the sticks. If I hadn't let people go ahead, I probably would have been trampled by the spring gardening mob. Eventually, they decided that I could just have them for the price of the yellow driveway markers. The heat shrink was about $4 for enough for all three sticks. The rubber screw caps were a little over a dollar. 3. What is yours made of? A white driveway marker with a rubber screw cap super glued on each end to cover up pointy ends and heat shrink on one end to act as a hand grip. The heat shrink is used for electrical work and "shrinks" down when you put a lighter to it. 4. What do you like/dislike about yours? They were pretty cheap and I still have all three of them. One stays in the truck, I keep one at the barn, and the third one stays in the fence near the gate to my far pasture. Emily

In Virginia, most of the shelters do not s/n before adopting the dogs out. There is, however, a state law mandating that unaltered dogs and cats can only be adopted to people living in that county or an adjacent county. For rescue pulls they usually don't require us to do anything, but I pulled a black and tan coonhound for coonhound rescue and the shelter in a neighboring county made me "adopt" the dog despite the fact that I had the 501c3 paperwork and a letter authorizing me to pick up the dog for the rescue. The rescue didn't send proof of the dog's neuter to the shelter and I received a letter from the shelter demanding proof that the dog had been altered. I can't remember what would have happened if I hadn't gotten the paperwork from the coonhound folks, but I think they would have seized the dog and charged me with a violation of the laws. So, even though they don't spay/neuter first, I think that Virginia shelters are pretty on top of things and make sure that unaltered dogs are s/n in a timely manner. Ideally, all dogs would be altered first, but in rural areas, that just isn't possible. Emily

I'm not sure if this is the case with your mineral, but I saw a feed labeled recently that said something like 8ppm copper. Further down on the tag it said "no added copper". With the feed, I am assuming that the copper number they had listed was the copper naturally occurring in the ingredients. Since other minerals in the mix shouldn't contain trace amounts of copper. Maybe it's a number the mineral maker feels is safe for sheep. Most horse feeds have several hundred ppm copper. Emily

I posted this before, but it was one of the missing posts. I let a woman come work my sheep once. She has an Aussie that has had lessons and had competed in ASCA trials. She indicated that she wanted to work her dog in my large field, but I suggested she work them in my smaller, 100 x 200 area for the first time since she and her dog didn't know these sheep. It was a complete disaster. My sheep tore around the field the entire time and were absolutely terrified. The woman ran and waived her stick and yelled at the dog a lot. My sheep weren't in danger, but they were certainly stressed after the incident. The next time she asked to work my sheep, I told her that they were pregnant and couldn't be worked. She hasn't asked since. I went to an ASCA fun run this fall. I thought it would be good to practice in an arena setting since we were entered in an arena trial at the state fair a few weeks later. Manse and I were kind and careful with the sheep. We couldn't keep them under control. They bolted back and forth frantically from one end of the field to the other. A Corgi went after us. Handler, dog, and sheep completed the course but all five were running. The sheep were so used to out of control dogs that the only thing they did when you gave them space was run like heck. Interestingly, the woman with the Aussie took lessons on these poor, terrified sheep. I don't have any problem telling people they can't come work their dogs. I let them know that my ewes are very flighty and not well suited for young dogs, breeds other than BC's, etc... If those didn't fit, I might say my insurance wouldn't allow it (people use that one a lot). I would let someone that I knew with a trained dog work my sheep, but neither my sheep or I are at all qualified to let untrained dogs come here. What I was actually asking is how you politely tell someone that chasing/harassing animals, objects, people, cars, etc... is not an indication of a dog's herding abilities. From the earlier responses I received (now missing), I think my original thought not to say anything at all is probably the way to go. No, I won't be hitting people. It does sound like fun though. Emily

I feed my own dogs raw, but the advice I give to people that adopt from me is to make sure the food has a meat or meat meal (chicken, lamb, beef, etc...) as the first ingredient. I also suggest that people avoid foods with corn and wheat because these can cause problems and they are most often found in lower quality foods. Keeping those two criteria in mind, you have a lot of good foods to choose from and can feed your dog something she likes and does well on. Emily

I have had several people in the last week tell me that their herding breed (Border Collie, Corgi, German Shepherd) has a lot of "herding instinct" because it "herds" cats, kids, other dogs, etc... It really drives me crazy, and so far, I have always kept my mouth shut. The person with the Corgi lives near me and thought it would be a good idea to bring her dog out to see my sheep. I dodged that one by politely telling her that Corgis work a lot differently than Border Collies and my sheep weren't suitable for other kinds of dogs. Are there any semi-nice responses for people that seem to think their dog would be excellent on sheep because it circles and stares at other living things? I want to set them straight but wonder if I should just keep quiet. Emily

That's one of my many language pet peeves. I just finished writing a paper for an animal law class I took this semester and could not believe how many times educated people referred to all cattle as "cows". It drives me crazy. I didn't quote it anywhere, but if I had, I probably would have replaced it with [cattle]. We don't call all sheep "ewes" or hogs "sows". I think it might be because the word cattle implies more than one. There really isn't a singular word for a bovine unless you identify its gender. I still think it's extremely annoying regardless of the reason. Emily

I don't know what Bill does, but when I feed my dogs lamb, they get the leg above the knee. I don't think there is any meat below the knee. My old neighbor would always throw the lower leg/hoof into the woods after he cleaned a deer. My dogs would always find them and drag them around the yard and chew on them. My boyfriend got a big buck today. He was supposed to be saving it for my dogs, but ended up giving it to Hunters for the Hungry. Apparently he didn't clean it himself and the guys from his hunt club took 5 or 6 deer to the group today. He promised that the dogs can have the next deer he gets and reminded me that the season is still early. When I do get a deer, I plan on giving the dogs almost everything. If my end up with a bone that's too much for them, they will pick off the meat and leave the bone. Two of my dogs have broken teeth, but neither was from bones. Emily

A friend of mine once said that she wanted a laid back dog like my Barkley. She thought he was calm and low-key. He is actually a very energetic Border Collie, but I always made sure that he behaved himself when we were visiting her house. The next time we visited, I didn't say anything to him. I let him run around like a wild child, jump up, and do pretty much whatever he wanted. She never mentioned wanting to get a Border Collie again. Emily

I live near Richmond and I like my Border Leicesters, but they do require a good bit of grain, at least on my current pasture. I also have a small flock of Cheviot ewes that I have been crossbreeding with my Border Leicester rams. So far, I have been pleased with the lambs they've given me. The second generation have nicer fleeces and are a bit bigger than my tiny Cheviots. They seem to do well on limited grain and less than stellar pastures. I don't know about lambing since my '07 crop of crosses gave me only one ewe lamb. She was a late May baby so I didn't breed her last fall. She got marked the first week I had the ram in and hasn't been remarked. I am still in the experimenting stage with my flock. I intend to keep a flock of show Border Leicesters and a flock of a more commercial type sheep. This fall I crossed the Cheviot ewes with the Border Leicester again, but next fall I am planning to add a Bluefaced Leicester ram, too so that I can compare the BLx lambs to the BFLx lambs. Julie will think I am crazy, but I am picking up three bred Scottish Blackface ewes in the next week or two. Next fall I will cross them with my BL and/or BFL ram. My ultimate goal is to have a medium sized sheep with a good mothering instinct that does well on pasture and limited grain. My ewes are fed a grain mix that I buy from a local mill. I don't like pellets and was thrilled to find a place that mixes their own feeds. They mix custom batches as small as 500 pounds, but right now I am using one of their own 12% mixes for the adult ewes and a %16 percent they make for the lambs. Both feeds are actually horse feeds, but the mill doesn't put copper in any of their custom mixed feeds, so it isn't a problem. This year I let the ewes graze the entire pasture, but I have several rolls of the premier electric netting sitting in the barn. I plan to put them to use this spring. My old property wasn't fenced well, so I kept the sheep behind the netting. The new property doesn't have a fencer and I just never got around to installing one. I have seen portable solar powered fencers but I am not sure how they are grounded if they are portable. For those if you that have used them, do you pound in a ground rod every time you move the fence or am I missing something? I am also concerned that a lot of my pasture doesn't have any shade. Should I just put the sheep in the open field at night? I would like to reseed my pastures but I may have to wait until spring. I am not sure if it is too late or not. Emily

we have placed a few rescues in working homes. One of our fosters has a working sheep farm and has a lot of experience with working BCs. Two of my own rescued BCs work sheep. One was a former city pet and the other came from a farmer who bred BCs but didn't work them. He passed away and the dogs came to me. I placed 6 and kept one. Not sure about other rescue groups but we very rarely see failed working dogs or dogs that have killed livestock. Most of the dogs we get in were sold into inexperience pet homes. Training a working dog takes a lot of time. You might want to consider an already trained working dog, but if you are interested in a rescue that has been tried on sheep we are located near Richmond. You can visit our site, ARC Border Collie Rescue at www.arcbcr.org. Emily

I feed the Kirkland food to all of my foster dogs. My own dogs were all on it before I switched them to raw. Everybody does really well on the food and you can't beat the price. I haven't ever had any problems with it and know that a lot of show dog people feed it. I really don't think you can get a better food for the money. If you feed canned food, the Kirkland canned food is one of the best canned foods I've seen and you get 24 cans for $15 something. I actually just bought some of the Kirkland today. Here it's up to $23.49 a bag. When I first started feeding it it was only $17 something a bag. I feed about 2 cups to an adult Border Collie. They also make a Lamb and Rice, but the LR has a little more rice and a little less meat in it than the chicken. Emily

A friend and I butchered a cull ewe for the dogs this spring. She had injured her leg and it wasn't healing. I didn't think I could take her to the butcher like that. We didn't really know what we were doing. We watched youtube videos on deer processing and did just fine, so I don't think you would have any trouble at all. I kept the heart, kidneys, and liver. I wasn't comfortable keeping anything else since I wasn't 100% sure it was safe. Emily

They did something similar here when they had goose dogs working in a local park. The goose dog handlers and the city officials were interviewed on the news. They talked about why the geese needed to be removed, how it was being done, and showed a short clip of a dog working the geese. They also let people know that they might see goose dogs in other city parks. I thought it was a great idea. Emily

Mine is unpaid, too. It's more of a leadership internship than a legal one, but by the end of April, I still didn't have anything lined up, so I took it. We work with a non-profit and help them address an issue. I'm a little worried that it will take up all of my time, but it's only 6 weeks and I will probably survive. I still have to figure out when we're going to take herding lessons. Probably on Sunday mornings instead of going to the "optional church service". Emily

One of the shelters we pull from tattoos all of the dogs they adopt out in the ear, but since you got your other dog from the same place, and it wasn't tattooed, I'm guessing that isn't the reason. Emily

Sally, good luck with the law firm! I am starting an internship the 15th of June. Apparently last year they didn't think they had enough stuff scheduled on the weekends and they want us all to bond, so we're stuck with a crappy "social event" to attend that day. I'm already going to have to figure out how to get out of it for that day anyway because I have other plans that I don't want to change. Becca, if you were closer, I would help you shear. I have a nice pair of electric shears. Emily

My boyfriend's sister is a nurse at the hospital that was hit. He told me that it was only minor damage and the hospital stayed open at full capacity. I don't live down there anymore and wasn't watching the TV at all yesterday so I'm not sure how far the damage was. Emily

I'm only bringing 3 sheep this year. A yearling ram, a yearling ewe and her oops ram lamb who is too small to leave at home. Last year my female BC, Manse, who is as quiet as a mouse stayed in my truck the whole weekend. It's so full of stuff most of the time, it would have been like playing "Where's Waldo" to try to find her in there. I parked under some big trees just beyond the exhibition hall. My pet sitter is in Ohio for the Pyr specialty, so I'll be coming back and forth all three days unless I can find someone else I trust in the next few days. Saturday and Sunday should be fine, but I'm worried about making it up there on time Friday. I have an exam and won't be able to leave until about 12:15. I don't want to hit DC traffic. Julie, have you gotten anything in the mail from them confirming your entry? I've showed there for a few years now, but can never remember if they send you something. We should have a BC board get together. Emily

Hey Julie- I'm showing sheep, too. I'll try to stop by and say hello. I should be home studying for law school exams . Emily

The day Becca came to my house, I had a ewe kill one of my hens. The hen thought she would lay her egg in the stall I had the ewe and her day old lamb jugged in. The ewe didn't think that was a very good idea. I found the hen dead in the corner of the stall and the lamb sleeping on her egg. Emily

Penning them is a good idea. My barnyard is a long way from my house and I occasionally find chickens up near the house. My dogs seem very interested in them when they're on the pasture side of the fence, but haven't bothered the chickens when they have crossed into the yard. This morning actually, I had a hen in the yard. The dogs ignored her and did their own thing. I am planning to get electric net fencing to better control where the chickens go. Emily

A woman I used to train (obedience) with had some very nice mals. Two were from American show lines and the other was a Belgian import. She does AKC and AHBA herding with them. I do think her dogs are the exception though. I had a female mal/bc mix for a while. She was very independent and was more interested in killing the sheep than herding. When she started climbing the fence to go after the sheep I found her a new home in town. My ex's dad used to train police dogs and would often go down to the Marine base and train with their dog handlers. He said the mals they had would bite and not let go and that they were pretty neurotic. Emily