I don't have much work for my dogs, but I do have one very important job that I can't do without their help. That is feeding the sheep. I have a young ram who is getting rather cantankerous and has butted me a couple times. The others aren't ornery, but they do tend to crowd me trying to get at the feed bucket. It used to be Seth was the best, but he's kinda lazy about it now.

He would rather do the job lying down. He lets the younger dogs do most of the work and steps in if he feels his expertise is necessary. I guess he is the foreman.

Then we have the trainee, Crue. He loves the work but lacks the experience of the older dogs. But he is catching on quickly. If I take him by himself, he will step up to the plate, but if the older dogs are there I notice he will stay behind as backup.

The dog that is surprising me is Meg. She lives up to her sex in attitude and has always kinda tolerated my presence but not really worked for me. A few weeks ago I was working with Crue on the meaning of lie down and STAY down when I tell you to. He was doing quite well until Meg decided she wanted to move the sheep toward me instead of holding them away like I needed till I opened the field gate. Well Crue says " Ok Meg, I'll follow your lead." and flanked around on her heels. So then I had the whole flock charging toward me and the open gate. Fortunately Seth had stayed in place and I only said his name and he sized up the situation and ran over to me and held the sheep off me and pushed them back to Crue and Meg. After that Meg would not listen to me at all and instead kept trying to run around to get to the sheep. I finally picked her up and threw her over the fence. Then I put her up for a few days while I let Seth and Crue do the work. Well it must have fixed something in her because she has never worked so good in her life as she has lately. I have a 2 mos old doeling that thinks she doesn't have to listen to the dogs even if she has two of them nipping at her to get out of the feed bin. Mostly they have started ignoring her because they can't get her to listen to them and being a baby they won't get rough with her. Meg will let her get away with this, but not the ram or the ewe with her lamb. They will both go at her but she will hold her ground till they concede the issue. She reads her stock very well and can size up the situation so everyone stays where they are supposed to be. I feel kinda bad she has finally come into her own and is doing such good work, as she will be 11 yrs old in August. I can only hope she is imparting some of her wisdom on Crue who definitely respects her.

This is Buni the doeling that gives Meg and Seth such a hard time. It doesn't bother Crue though as he has no use for goats and will only work the sheep.

Crue does do a very good job with  the sheep however.