I guess Hattie's hearing loss is getting worse and she relies on gestures for communication more than I realized. A flag or arm swing accompanies vocal commands when we herd and yesterday we had an interesting development as a result.
I was dragging Tag's Radio Flyer wagon around with a slop bucket cleaning up sheep droppings, as I do daily. There is a large temporary pen set up in the back yard that the sheep can access through a gate at the east end of their field. Hattie sat at the gate while I cleaned up in the pen. The sheep were eating in their barn at the west end of the property.
It had been raining so I had my hood up but was getting warm. I raised my arm to lower the hood. Hattie, sitting at the other end of the pen, interpreted that as a sign to fetch and took off on a beautiful wide outrun, circling around to the barn. I felt a moment of panic as she entered the barn, fearing the sheep would bolt and crash around, but all was quiet and five sheep exited the door followed by my little dog. Not a fence or board was smashed down in the process.
She herded them along the fence, as we've practiced many times, over to the gate, but only three entered the pen. Now she had to deal with two rebellious sheep splintered off the group and going in opposite directions. This has been a sticking point for her in the past. Would she fetch them or leave them to focus on the larger group? I was still a good distance away and decided to stay out of it. This was entirely her show. Without hesitation she circled back and fetched each reluctant sheep to the gate and, to my delight, brought them as a group right to me. What a good girl! She looked quite proud of herself, deservedly so. It wasn't something I planned to do but couldn't ignore what a splendid job she'd done all on her own.
Now if only I could get her to do the rest of the chores, too.
