Kit the Working Dog and The Bottle Lambs

by Lorna Wall
(Poplarfield, Manitoba, Canada)

One year we purchased a large group of cull ewes with great genetics but that had not been taken care of. We lambed them out but bottled most of the babies and shipped the moms. We learned that year that not all normal handling techniques used with working dogs will always work.

Kit, already a well seasoned stock dog, had to deal with an unruly bunch of lambs that insisted on staying with Me instead of moving with the rest of the sheep.... unfortunately I was working gates, taking strings off bales and other human work things.... 20 some bottle lambs just did not want to move where Kit knew they should be going.

So we had to develop a new set of rules... and Kit learned to herd the ewes with out bothering the lambs. When we went back to the people who had trained and competed with her previously they said they had never thought of that problem. Also there are some instances that you need to leave one sheep and her lambs and move the others so this has become a very good tool.

Kit can also be sent out a half mile into the field, you can attend to chores, and not even pay attention and she will collect all the sheep in the field and bring them back to you...one command... : )

Wall 2 Wall Sheep Ranch & Border Collies, Poplarfield, Manitoba, Canada