Last Minute Gifts for the Shepherd in Your Life

posted in: Homesteading 0

Last year, I gave you three gift ideas for the shepherd in your life. I thought I would add to that list for those of you still doing your holiday shopping. So here goes: Lamb Cam – During lambing season, we do round the clock barn checks to see if new lambs have arrived or if laboring moms are doing … Read More

The Natural Instincts of Border Collies

posted in: Border Collies 0

Border collies just instinctively know how to work sheep, right? Wrong. It is true that border collies have particular instincts which help them work with sheep and make them trainable, but they are not born already knowing how to work with a shepherd. The Border Collie Rescue website explains the natural instincts of the border collie: The herding instinct in … Read More

The Dance Between Border Collie and Handler

posted in: Border Collies 3

While traipsing across Germany and on to Gotland, Sweden this summer, we left our border collie, Kai, with a sheep dog trainer. Being 1 1/2 years old, he was eager to begin his journey as a sheepdog. With a summer full of moving kids to college, and visiting those afar, I had little time to work with him. So instead … Read More

Vermont Sheep Dog Trial

posted in: Border Collies 1

The sign at the end of the road reads, “Sheep Dog Trials” and an arrow guides you down the long dirt road to the farm at the end. Here you find border collies, sheep, and spectators. The Sheep Dog Trial at Spring Valley Farm is in the quiet village of Strafford, Vermont.  Handlers come from as far away as Canada to … Read More

The Shepherd and His Dog-A Bond of Reciprocal Knowledge & Mutual Trust

posted in: Border Collies 0

Within the first page of The Art & Science of Shepherding, the authors paint a beautiful picture of the relationship between the shepherd and his dog-a bond of “reciprocal knowledge and mutual trust”. When a hiker in Provence, France, out for a day in the mountains, sees at some distance a shepherd and his herd, he may think at first … Read More

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