Orchard Hill English Shepherds
At three months, I am so impressed with Mags. She has a lot of energy, but is very biddable. She is quite
interested in making the stock move, and I usually have her on a long line when we do chores, just to keep her
out of trouble. On occasion, she has moved the ram lamb and his wether buddies out of the way, and I have
praised her for calm work - moving them, then backing off and watching to be sure they stay where they
belong.
Ember and Josie have regularly taken her out hunting since she was about 7 or 8 weeks old. Now I see her out in the horse pasture hunting on her own. I can't say how successful she is yet, but she certainly is trying! When the big dogs go out to bark at the coyotes, she still comes running to the porch to be safe. Smart little dog!
She has been quick to learn "sit". "Stay" is coming along, but "down" still needs some work. We work on her recall several times a day, and she is doing very well there. All of this is done with a lot of praise and treats. My goal is an obedient, happy-to-please puppy. She is very loving, a true English shadow. She sleeps in her crate at night, and is almost housebroken.
At six months, Mags continues to show me that she will be a good working dog. She circles the sheep, and wants to keep them bunched up. If one gets separated from the main flock, she will either go out around it to push it back, or stand back and let it return on its own - watching it closely the whole time. I have seen her move the heifers along too, generally just getting them moving and following along behind them to keep them moving. I have seen her go for the hock on one heifer, and will have to wait and see it she continues to want to bite higher, or starts going for the heel instead.
At eleven months, I took Mags to one day of herding lessons with Lynn Leach. She did a nice job once she realized that I really did want her to move those sheep around. She has a good sense of keeping the sheep flocked together, and works at a moderate distance from them. I appreciated her quiet, calm approach once she got down to work. She gathers and fetches, and at one point, when the sheep were facing her down, she calmly looked them in the eye and walked toward them one step at a time until they turned and walked away. The picture above is from that lesson day.
Ember and Josie have regularly taken her out hunting since she was about 7 or 8 weeks old. Now I see her out in the horse pasture hunting on her own. I can't say how successful she is yet, but she certainly is trying! When the big dogs go out to bark at the coyotes, she still comes running to the porch to be safe. Smart little dog!
She has been quick to learn "sit". "Stay" is coming along, but "down" still needs some work. We work on her recall several times a day, and she is doing very well there. All of this is done with a lot of praise and treats. My goal is an obedient, happy-to-please puppy. She is very loving, a true English shadow. She sleeps in her crate at night, and is almost housebroken.
At six months, Mags continues to show me that she will be a good working dog. She circles the sheep, and wants to keep them bunched up. If one gets separated from the main flock, she will either go out around it to push it back, or stand back and let it return on its own - watching it closely the whole time. I have seen her move the heifers along too, generally just getting them moving and following along behind them to keep them moving. I have seen her go for the hock on one heifer, and will have to wait and see it she continues to want to bite higher, or starts going for the heel instead.
At eleven months, I took Mags to one day of herding lessons with Lynn Leach. She did a nice job once she realized that I really did want her to move those sheep around. She has a good sense of keeping the sheep flocked together, and works at a moderate distance from them. I appreciated her quiet, calm approach once she got down to work. She gathers and fetches, and at one point, when the sheep were facing her down, she calmly looked them in the eye and walked toward them one step at a time until they turned and walked away. The picture above is from that lesson day.
Mags on sheep at 11 months