The toboggans get winter and summer use here. In winter they are used to pull the buckets of water to the animals and in summer, they are swimming pools. Robbie works pretty hard on the farm, but he plays harder. He is progressing with his sheep herding skills, though still wants to "head em off at the pass". He shows good independent thinking and is quite headstrong, so paying attention to commands has to be reinforced daily. He helps with the rounding up and putting away of most of the farm animals, the sheep, ducks and the chickens. The animals are put in their respective pens and shelters for the night and the livestock guardian dogs patrol the yard, pens and perimeter. A bear has been seen twice, not an old one, but a yearling. Still if the bear wanted to break through the fence, he could. He could also kill the dogs, but bears do not generally prey on livestock or dogs. The dogs have done an excellent job of keeping predators away.
Robbie is trained to sky watch for ravens especially, and sea gulls, hawks or other arial predators. He is good at chasing them on the ground while they fly, not allowing them to land, and the other dogs have followed his lead too. Robbie's favourite thing to do is chase something, but after that, he loves to play with a toy or ball. Tonight we were playing for a while and he laid himself down belly first with his toy in the toboggan, which hold about 3 inches of cold water. The water was changed for the night so it is fairly clean, but the ducks and geese swim in the "pools" too, so by morning it needs to be changed again. Robbie is two years old this July. By the time he is five he should settle in to be a great dog. Border collies are very hyper active until then. How many more years...sigh.
Robbie is not my first border collie. I love the breed, despite the work they involve and I absolutely adore Robbie.
Robbie is trained to sky watch for ravens especially, and sea gulls, hawks or other arial predators. He is good at chasing them on the ground while they fly, not allowing them to land, and the other dogs have followed his lead too. Robbie's favourite thing to do is chase something, but after that, he loves to play with a toy or ball. Tonight we were playing for a while and he laid himself down belly first with his toy in the toboggan, which hold about 3 inches of cold water. The water was changed for the night so it is fairly clean, but the ducks and geese swim in the "pools" too, so by morning it needs to be changed again. Robbie is two years old this July. By the time he is five he should settle in to be a great dog. Border collies are very hyper active until then. How many more years...sigh.
Robbie is not my first border collie. I love the breed, despite the work they involve and I absolutely adore Robbie.
RSS Feed