Jake 9 Months Old -- Giving the Sheep a Run for their Wool

Since Jake is a herding dog, we've always wanted to be able to give him a chance to use those cattle dog genes. We live in the city and our backyard is not big enough for stock. Fortunate for us, we know people who have sheep and a herding party was arranged. We belong to a local cattle dog club and one of our members has the perfect scene for this party. Up early to beat the heat, my husband and I drove to the member's farm. As I opened up the back door of the car, Jake took a flying leap out, almost hanging himself since he was still attached to the seatbelt harness. Once we got Jake untangled, he only had eyeballs for the wooly creatures in the pasture. We were shortly joined by many other ACDs and their people. The sheep were terrified of the gathering of those intense dogs. Jake was second to try his paw at the herding. My husband and I had gone prepared for #1 Jake to not be interested and #2 for Jake to embarrass us totally (you never know with ACDs). Our boy did us proud though! Jake took to herding like a little pro. Jake was moving so fast that it was hard to take pictures of him. Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of your dog when you are jumping up and down and yelling, "Good boy, Jake"? Luckily for us, everyone else brought their cameras, too.

Jake's new ACD friends all had a chance to enter the pasture and scare those sheep to death. A few stared blankly at the sheep and looked at their owners, "You want me to do what?" Others hung onto those wooly coats for dear life with their teeth. My favorite was Posey -- she ran the sheep in one good go-round and then ran right back to her momma waiting at the gate. The cattledogs were glued to the fence, trying to squeeze body parts through so that they could help out whatever dog was currently working the sheep. Jake even gave it his best imitation of a mole, trying to squeeze under the bottom of the fence. I am always in awe of the wide variety of coloring that comes with this breed and the group gathered for herding this day was no exception to the rule. And as soon as I can get the picture uploading to behave, I will add some more photos of Jake's friends.


Jewel


Rosie


Axel

When the Carolina sun became too much to bear for all the two-legged and four-legged creatures, the humans headed in for some much needed lunch. The dogs were left to explore in the fenced backyard. Jake couldn't help himself and taunted the other dogs to play chase. He would get in the sandbox and kick the sand out and pounce at the closest dog. He was a little bit surprised when all of a sudden three of the adult dogs decided to take the young whippersnapper up on his offer at the same time. Jake was so tired by the time we put him back in our car that he didn't even care if he had to wear the seatbelt. He curled up on my sweater and passed out. What a great day to be a cattle dog!