The Corgi and the Smithie

I thought I'd write a little note about what a day in the life is like when you live with a herding dog. Or, in this case for the next couple weeks, two herding dogs.

First, you cannot be deceived by how cute they are. Although Mattie weighs in at just 33lbs and Annabelle is probably around 18-20lbs, these little buggers can get fierce.

Herding dogs love to play and romp and, well, herd. Technically, they should get in trouble for herding other dogs at the dog park and such because 1) it's not appropriate for them to do that and 2) it's just bad form to use those drives, instinct and skill, which took hundreds of years to perfect, on such "trivial" stock as Golden Retrievers and Jack Russell Terriers.

But, when in my home, a serious herding dog play romp is strongly encouraged. When Kuro the Border Collie stayed with us for 3 months (he was 6-9 months old when we had him so he was REAL fun and crazy) I took video of a typical evening -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxZEat3R1E8 Now with Annabelle, it's more of the same craziness, perhaps a bit toned down though.

Annabelle is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and is about 2-3 years old, about the same age as my Mattie. The Corgi was bred to herd cattle. The reason they have no legs is to keep injuries, while herding cows, to a minimum. Basically, the Corgi will bite the cows lower leg to move it (cows are totally stubborn and strong willed), then the cow will kick because it's pissed that it just got bit, and the Corgi will miss getting kicked in the head because she is so low to the ground. I guess you can say Annabelle has it in her to play a little dirty by aiming low and running away.

Mattie is a Smithfield Sheepdog. She is a drovers dog, meaning her job is to drive (herd and push) sheep and cattle from the farm into the town where the sheep/cattle would be sold at market (in this case, the Smithfield Market) and then of course, sent to the butcher shops to be turned into delicious beef pastries and haggus. Her claim to fame is to basically do this "driving" for many miles across the cold and blustery English countryside without a lot of interaction with a handler/human and then to essentially "protect" the sheep/cattle or whatever it was she was charged with that day. Mattie has long legs, unlike Annabelle, and therefore she has to be able to turn on a dime to evade kicks and other defensive measures from cows and sheep - moving fast and biting hard is what she does best. Visit my website at www.geocities.com/smithydog123 for more info on the Smithfield Sheepdog.

Unlike Mattie and Kuro playing (female and male dogs), Mattie and AB are both female. Coupled with the fact they are herding dogs, I have to say the word "MANAGEMENT" is a part of my routine now. It is the norm in Dogdom that female herding dogs have a difficult time accepting other female herding dogs. So far, M and AB are getting along quite swimmingly. However, I am ALWAYS near when they play as their "play" can turn into a nasty little scrap and I don't want blood to be shed.

The following photos visually describe my typical evening with the three pooches (and the cats of course)...

Something is up because GiGi has that "WTF?" look. This is a clear signal that the dogs have started to get restless...

I walked in to find Mattie totally taking Lucky out. Yes, I actually do think she is holding him down with her left front paw.
Lucky was actually pretty ticked about getting such a smack down. I had to break that one up and rescue Lucky by putting him on the other side of the baby gate.
I feel as though Mattie decided she was going to guard her flock of magazines that fell off of the couch. Note the "play bow" position and AB's and Lucky's hesitation about moving in on the magazines.

Let the games begin. Note Mattie's beautiful coat (she got a bath last night). She is whipping around to ensure AB doesn't go in for an ankle attack... You can also tell AB is getting ready to unleash her inner-Corginess


Game On! Annabelle is going all out here - flared nostrils, forward posture and check out those teeth! Mattie's getting into position though by getting low to ward off the attack.

Dogs Dogs Dogs

Since my last post, I've managed to run in my first pseudo-herding trial, taken on a dog to sit for the next three weeks and managed to take the Hybrid into the shop.

Let's start with the Hybrid. On Thursday, Jerill drove the Hybrid to work and found that the driver's window, upon putting the window down, wouldn't go back up very easily. I myself ran into this little problem as well a couple weeks ago when I stopped to get the mail on the drive into home and discovered that the window was struggling to find its place in the window frame. It kept popping down and FINALLY it stayed up. So, I called the dealership on Friday morning and they had an opening so I took it in. The dealership is only about 1/2 mile from my work, so I took full advantage of their pick up and drop off shuttle service. It turns out that the window-sticking has happened enough with the Civic for Honda to issue a Service Bulletin about the problem. So, the service center already knew what needed to be replaced/repaired. The car was fixed up that same day and I left work on time and with a fixed window.

I picked Scott the Border Collie up on Thursday. HWY203 opened up that afternoon and so I trekked to Carnation and did the doggie pick up. Scott seemed very satisfied with his accomodations while he was with us over the weekend. He stayed in our doggie-room, that is downstairs in a heated semi-finished basement. He was such a good boy - no barking, no pottying in his room and he was just so happy with the constant supply of biscuits and treats. Keep in mind that Scott is a true working dog and has lived a barn-life his entire life, so he was very much used to being in his own space in the night.

The trial was, in all respects, a fun day for working our dogs. The judge was unable to make the event, so we weren't graded on performance at all. Here is a video of Scott and I herding - in this shot, we are running a ranch course and this particular exercise is called "turning the post"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTyeZGRKNWs

Here is a picture of the herding-nuts at this event. Everyone I met was very nice and their dogs were great too. I'm on the far right with Scott, who is schmoozing for treats...

On Friday night, Jerill drove to our friend Eric and Harumi's house in North Seattle. They are the proud owners of Annabelle, the Pembroke Corgi. Eric and Harumi asked us to take care of Annabelle for three weeks while they went to Japan to visit family. Annabelle isn't a large dog but she has a big attitude - she is a herding dog through and through and you know what they say about those female herding dogs! Mattie and Annabelle are getting along very well - much to my surprise as the last time they hung out together we had to keep them separated for fear of a bad scrap. Now, they are relaxed and staying out of each other's face. I guess once a dog hits 2.5 years old they really start to chill out - it's very nice. I mean, I love puppies but they are just so nuts. Age 3-8 is really the best time of a dog's life. So, here is a pic of the pack. Annabelle will be with us through early December.

I'll spare you the gripe I have right now with the Letter-to-the-editor expressed in the most recent edition of the Sno-Valley Star newspaper about the biology class that dissected sheep brains. It was a letter from a guy at PETA talking about the suffering of animals, yada yada yada. All I can say about PETA is they are a farce, they're full of crap, they kill animals and they are against everything true animal lovers are fighting for. Visit http://www.petakillsanimals.com/ for details.

C'est la vie