At every Open House, we shear the sheep, skirt the wool and send it up to Vermont to be turned into beautiful yarn. The sheep were not in a good mood yesterday, they broke out of the Pole Barn and it took Red and the rest of us nearly an hour to get them back in.
Jim McRae, our shearer brought in some of his gates from his truck and Ed Gulley figured out a way to create a tunnel that pushed the sheep back into the barn. Red was a wreck afterwords, he gulped down a bucket of water and nearly collapsed.
Ed Gulley is our hero, there is no better human to have around than him when there is trouble. After we got them in, about 40 or 50 people came into the pasture to watch Jim and his grandson Ian shear the sheep. Jim is retiring after this season, he is a legendary shearer and a great friend. We will miss him.
For those of you who will ask me about it, the sheep grow back a thick coat in about six weeks, well before the harsh winter comes. It is much more comfortable for them when they are shorn. They will have plenty of wool for the winter.
A dog is, on the whole, what you would call a simple soul, wrote T.S. Eliot in a poem, adding that “cats are much like you and me.”
I saw the truth of this yesterday at the first day of our Open House, as the first of many hundreds of people began arriving at our farm. I got a good lesson in hubris and emotion yesterday when it comes to training dogs, even one as dependable and obedient as Fate. She and I are very tight and have never had serious training issues apart from the fact that she doesn’t really want to herd the sheep, which I have fully accepted.
In my years living with dogs and writing about them, I am very proud – perhaps too proud – of the fact that none of them has every run into the street, wantonly disobeyed me, or reduced me to red-faced screaming. Yesterday, that perhaps idealized record was broken, Fate and I had the worst day of our few years together.
I am perhaps also a bit spoiled by Red, who would no sooner disobey a command than he would fly over a fence.
Fate is a wonderful dog, loving, responsive, full of energy and personality. She doesn’t care to push sheep around, but we adore her and are grateful for her. I was shocked yesterday when she saw some people arriving to our Open House and bolted away from me out of the yard and into the busy road, pulling the excitable Gus along with her.
I have worked hard to train all of my animals – dogs, cats, even chickens – to never go into the street or even near it, and none of them have. To make is worse, Fate ignored repeated commands to come back, she ran to gate and refused to leave and come to the house, she raced to the back yard and refused again to listen to me and come into the house.
We ran back and forth for five or ten minutes, and I of course broke every rule i have ever had. I yelled at her, chased her, raised my voice more and more and finally grabbed her by the collar and dragged her into the house, smacked her in the butt, shouting at her to get into her crate, which – out of options – she finally did.
My cardinal rules of training hold that problems are always the human’s fault, not the dog. They are simple souls, in fact, and are eager to please and obey us once they understand what we want. When they fail, and we fail, the task is to stay calm, step back and reassess. Fate broke my rules, but so did I.
This morning, I got up early and took her out into the yard with Red. First, I looked for ways to deprive her of the opportunity to ignore me. I put Red on the outside of the fence, Fate on the inside. She could be a part of things, but not run to the road, or get too excited.
I considered any factors that might be contributing to this trouble, what was different from before? Gus came immediately to mind I have always been wary of too much playing with dogs, because for dogs that are not puppies, it is rarely playing, it is hunting and arousal practice.
Dog lovers are much like Boomer parents when it comes to play, they love to see their dogs happy and tired. It eases their guilt and sense of responsibility. But dogs are usually practicing hunting and killing, playing in a recreational way is a human trait, older dogs don’t need it,and it almost arouses dogs and brings their prey drive up. When you see a neurotic and out-of-control Lab or border collie, and you see a lot, of them, it is likely they are chasing balls or frisbees all day rather than being trained.
The same thing applies to playing. The more they do it, the more aroused they get..
I have loved seeing Fate and Gus play, they do it all day, growing and wrestling and grabbing at each other. If you know the steps of animal prey drive – all dogs are killing machines, in one way or another, especially dogs like Labs and border collies and other working and hunting breeds, they come from wolves.
I don’t allow playing inside of the house for these reason, but we so enjoyed Fate and Gus playing I forgot what I know and preach. Fate is simply over-aroused. She and Gus can play outside for an hour or two a day, but no more in the house ever. Watching them hunt and stalk one another, I slipped into that mindset that things these behaviors are cute, or that this is what Fate needed.
It is the last thing she needed. There was no play in the house last night, no chasing or tug of war or pulling of legs. This morning, I took Fate out and I made sure I was calm and positive. I took her to the pasture, then talking to her in a quiet and upbeat voice, walked her to the house saying “let’s go to the house.” And she did.
When the first car pulled into the driveway, she started to get excited and squirm and crawl towards it. I said “stay” softly (when you yell at an aroused dog, you just get them more aroused.)
And she did stay. I released her and let her say hello, then called her back to me, and she came.
So far, we have repeated this four or five times, so far so good. Soon, I will put her inside the pasture gate as people arrive, so she can’t get into trouble and I can praise her for staying there and remain clear and positive. No shouting, chasing or anger.
Today, we start all over again. I screwed up and have my head right now. I have a plan and a clear purpose, rather than running around like a fool shouting commands that will not be obeyed.
She is a dog, she has a simple soul, I am a human, I do not. I am reminded to be humble and remember that training a dog is never done, and that animals are not people, and their instincts and biology can often be unpredictable.
It’s my job to figure this out in a positive and responsible way. I’m on it and will keep you posted. I’ll get a better test in a few minutes when a lot more people arrive.
