Tara stopped as she came around the other side of the geese. She looked back at me, from where I had sent her to herd-chase the geese on a playing field. I called to her that the job was finished. Her expression went from her serious look to one of relaxed happiness. For working line Border Collies, a job well done is happiness, fulfillment. She then ran over to were her teammate for this mornings goose control visits, Blade was resting. They were soon playing together. After a few minutes, I called them. We walked to another field on the Massachusetts property to see if there were any more geese.
Working line Border Collies are breed to be serious about their work. Therefore, working line Border Collies can be intense and also have a lot of stamina, for long days of farm work. Tara is no exception to this serious nature in Border Collies. Oh, Border Collies can look full of joy. And they can be. Ours play and enjoy each other quite often. But as soon as there is work to do, they are back at it. Tara is serious even by Border Collie standards, and the fact that she is only a year and a half old makes her exceptional.
Tara is learning the fundamentals of how her instincts become realized as a working dog. One of the first things that Working Border Collie trainers teach their pups is something called balance. I am talking about a different kind of balance. Border Collies are breed with a concept of going around the other side of sheep from their person, to balance off so the sheep can be herded in a particular direction. Many people who have Border Collies as pets don’t understand this instinct and how to rechannel it to a good end. It is essential to understand Border Collies, their instincts and individual personalities for all to be positive and healthy. I often will make a pun and say to an audience at a herding demonstration that ” to have a balanced dog the owner must be balanced and knowledgeable.”
After Tara and Blade got back to our homestead in New York, it was time to put our sheep on pasture for the afternoon. Blade got to move the ducks to a small pasture to eat any grass or greenery they wanted or even bugs. Tara got to move, herd the sheep to what is our largest pasture, a clearing in our woods were all sorts of vegetation grows. Our sheep are ideal small farm sheep because they “browse”.Sheep or goats or cattle that browse, eat a variety of plants, not just grass. We rotate the sheep through the clearing using a movable large pen, so the sheep will not overgraze. I sent Tara on an “outrun” to “gather” the sheep from where they had been near their house. They eagerly trotted toward the gate to the clearing. Tara guided, herding them by coming to a balance point on the other side of the flock and then made sure they moved together toward where I was standing at that gate. I opened the gate as Tara paused the herding job and the sheep paused. The sheep then trotted through the gate ready to eat what yummy vegetation they could find. Without much of any issues, Tara herded the sheep into that large pen with some balancing and some directed “flank” commands from me.
After that job was done, Tara joined our other dogs with a sit down in the shade. They all seemed to enjoy some quiet time. The dogs seemed relaxed as all the sheep and poultry were good. Just then one of our ducks found an opening in the fence. Jim, our oldest but most aware Border Collie saw the duck and started an out run to balance off the duck and herd it back to the safety of the homestead away from the swamp were trouble can lurk. The next day would bring more goose control work and as always, farm work. We would be off to Connecticut to see if our corporate clients had geese back on their properties. All the dogs, Tara included slept well that night. It is our aim to have happy, well-balanced dogs for their sake and our clients’.