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January 12, 2008
Helga is back!
I don't know how, why, when or where, but this morning, as soon as I woke up, I pulled on my boots and ran outside to the Run of Argghhh! to count the chickens. And yes, I was wearing my flannel pajamas with penguins on them. Good thing no one can see our house!
I slept poorly last night because I was worried about Helga. I prayed that maybe St. Anthony (patron saint of lost things) and St. Francis (you should know about him!) would intercede with the Good Lord above and get Helga back safely.
Hey, I'm Irish Catholic, we do a lot of those kinda prayers, asking Saints to ask God to help us out - because we figure they are really on His good side, more so than us earth-bound sinners, and He will listen a little closer to the good Saints.
Anyway, I ran out in the 26 degree morning air and Helga was in the run. She made her nice chicken noises at me, and then hopped into the nest box, to lay her egg of the day.
I owe Gunner an apology. He wants to herd the birds, and scares them when he does, but he did not injure any of them.
Do any of you know anything about dogs who want to herd things? I need to understand what Gunner is trying to do. We are pretty sure he is a border collie/lab mix, and the border collie part of him is very strong!
This morning, in about a 5 minute session, I taught him to roll over. He is very quick!
Posted by Beth at January 12, 2008 8:16 AM
Comments
Hi Beth,
We just lost our "Herding" mix this year.
One thing that he learned was to "Stay".
When my wife would come home (anytime that
he was not riding with her) we would say:
"Stay in your yard!" and then zoom he was
gone off the porch not touching the steps &
down to her car! One of our neighbors
wondered if we had an invisible fence for
him? So maybe you & John can work together
to teach Gunner to stay (when told & rewarded
when done)???
Posted by: Sine Nomine at January 12, 2008 8:54 AM
Yay! I'm so glad she's back!
Herding stems from the deeply ingrained prey drive, which is, of course, used in hunting. Gunner sounds very smart, and can learn that while he has a job, scaring the fowl is not one of them.
The key is to give him jobs - working dogs get itchy when they've nothing to do... so, even if it's sitting and staying, or... whatever you guys decide, he needs to be worked and made to feel important. Then you can teach him that his jobs do not include scaring chickens. ;)
Posted by: pam at January 12, 2008 9:24 AM
Herding dogs have to have the knack. if you have one that has it, its a gift.
We had two- a border named Domino, who liked to herd US (when we walked together he'd run circles around us until we got close enough together we had to be walking arm in arm) and another border named Patches that liked, oddly enough, to herd fish. She'd stand at the fish tank and glare until all the fish huddled into one corner- not kidding!
If a dog doesn't like to herd, it's torture to get him to do so. One who does- well, nurture it and use him. And thank the Lord every day he is with you. For when he is gone- as all dogs eventually go, you will spend you whole life thinking "If X was here, we'd be able to do whatever"
God keep you all, AND Helga.
Posted by: og at January 13, 2008 10:21 AM
Oooh, Linux sleep wear ...
Cheers
Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs at January 13, 2008 7:05 PM
Check out the Border Collie Rescue site for more info, particularly the articles. In short, Border Collies will herd anything. I've seen ours working dragonflies. (I swear the dragon fly seemed to be enjoying it!) The also need to have a job.
Posted by: pogue at January 14, 2008 5:09 PM