Lassie Boy
I just dad to share what Lassie did last night. I have 6, 4 month old
replacement Rhode Island Red hens that have been kept in my brooder pen
until I can get another chicken tractor or get rid of the rooster. Well,
last night we let them out to run around (Stew was locked up). When it was
time to put them back in, Lassie became very excited, I haven't let him
work with these young birds before. Well, let me tell you, I really wished
I had the video camera with me. He put his nose down level with them and ever
so slowly started rounding them up, I had to help as they didn't go right
into the coop, they scattered several times (silly chickens). After he got
three or four in, he very carefully went after the others but kept an eye
on the pen to make sure no one escaped. The last one was quite obstinate
but Lassie was calm and mannered as he walked around and over the wood
piles after this bird. With one final little bark and air snap, in went the
final bird. He's been great with the poultry since he was a young pup but
last night's display of ingenuity, calmness and intelligence was a sight to
see.
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Last night one of our ducks was missing. We got a late start on the
evening chores and it was already dark by the time we got outside.
There
were 4 ducks in the pen already and we looked all around for the last
one (dark brown duck, dark night.....) We finally gave up looking for
her, locked the 4 into the pen and started doing other chores.
I was in the middle of feeding the horses when in runs the duck with
Lassie hot on it's heels. I don't know if Lassie continued looking for
DJ (duck) after we stopped or if DJ just happened to come back on her
own and Lassie wanted to show her to us. I did not see what went on
outside. We're guessing that DJ came back, couldn't get into the pen
on
her own and so Lassie brought her to us in the main barn so we could
put
her away. Could have been a matter of coincidence or could have been a
matter of wonderful FarmCollie instincts showing through. I'm going to
chalk this one up to instincts.
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Lassie has been getting even better with the birds. I was feeding the
chickens and went looking for the ducks to put them away when I noticed
that Lassie had already put them all in their pen and was standing guard
at the door. Such a good dog.
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A funny thing happened last night. A friend was over to show me her new
car and it was chore time. I asked her to watch how well Lassie worked.
Well, he put away the chickens, then the ducks and then I asked him to
go find the goats. I was in the barn and my friend hollered "Hey Serena,
Lassie just rounded up a deer!!!" " I can't believe he's got a deer!". I
came running out of the barn to see what he had. Well, as it turns out
it was Rascal, my brown Nubian goat (I guess he could be mistaken for a
deer).
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Well, last night Lassie did the cutest thing. We had been leery of
letting our new Nubian kid loose to browse but last night, I decided,
why not, how far can he go?Well, I let him out of the stall and hobbled back to watch the action
from a chair some 50 feet from the barn door. Rascal slowly started
coming out of his stall and then out the barn door. Lassie saw this and
immediately put the goat back into the barn. He was very gentle about it
but insistent. I called him back to me and he laid down by my chair. A
couple of minutes went by and Rascal came out of the barn again, Lassie
saw this and, once again, gently escorted him back into the barn. He did
this 6 times! Finally, Rascal decided that he should stay put in the
barn for the time being. A bit later, Rascal came out and went behind
the barn. Lassie was frantic looking for him but finally found him and
got him back into the barn.
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Date: Mon Jul 15, 2002 11:13 am
Serena Writes:
Hi All,
I have two puppies from Lilly/Banjo's second litter. One of them,
Lassie, is becoming a wonderful farm dog. This weekend, on his own,
Lassie went out to the swampy area behind the house and retrieved two
ducks (about 300 feet away). He calmly walked down (I couldn't see
exactly what he did once he got back there) and a couple minutes later,
he calmly walked back with the ducks walking in front of him. Once they
got in front of the tack shed, Lassie broke off his pursuit and came
back to lay at my feet. He did this twice.
The first time I was so
excited, I ran into the house and told my husband. He thought it was
only a fluke (the pups are only 5 months old). The second time he did
it, Bruce was there to watch. We were both very impressed that this pup
knew the ducks were missing, went and found them and put them back up
near the barn with the rest of the flock. His herding style is very laid
back which is perfect for my poultry. Both of them are very interested
in the goats also. I also have noticed them getting into thinking about
hunting. They are funny though, they'll watch the barn cats getting
ready to jump on something and they barge in and make the kill. The cats
are none to happy about it but it gives me a chuckle each time. It's
usually just a bug but I've seen Bonnie jump on and kill a field mouse
that the cat pointed out.
I love to watch the instincts develop in these dogs.
Sincerely,
M. Serena Lanza
Lassie 9 months old
Jul 19, 2002
Serena wrote:
Lassie has figured out how to separate the
chickens and the ducks and put them in their respective pens. He is very
"loose" eyed and calm in his herding manner (unlike Bonnie who loves to
run into the middle of the flock and scatter them). He is methodical
about it as I have piles of "stuff" that the ducks will run behind and
hide. If he's this good now at 5 months, I can't wait till he's two or
three.
I can go one better too, I forgot to mention that I have one chicken
that hatched out two ducklings, he somehow knows that those two ducks
belong with the chickens and has not tried to herd them out (they stick
to the "momma" chicken like glue though so maybe I can't claim he knows
better) but I like to think he knows the difference.
I started by just taking him out for morning chores, letting the birds
out of their various pens to free range for the day, feeding the horses,
goats and pig. I didn't have him on leash for the morning chores. Once I
felt comfortable with him around the birds, I started by having him on a
leash while I rounded up the birds in the evening. He seemed interested
enough but sometimes his mind would wander and I'd have to point him in
the right direction. That went on for about one week on leash. Lately, I
have had him with me off leash while rounding them up and then I let him
try it on his own. He's not by any means perfect yet but it is obvious
he has the right idea and loves to get things right. I love all over him
when he gets it right. Now, I'll call the ducks (for instance) and wait
by their pen door with their food, as they start coming to me, he
follows up behind them until they all jump up into the stall. If one
goes awry, he'll go get it.
M. Serena Lanza
Photos of Lassie with the poultry.
Scarlett, 5 months
Banjo, Sire
Lilly, Dam
Duncan, Brother
Kala, Sister
Farmcollie Guardian Behavior
Farmcollie Herding Behavior
Farmcollie Hunting Behavior
Biddability
Bonnie Blue and Lassie
American Working Farmcollie Association
AWFA Index
Contact AWFA
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