SHEEPSES!!!

Chance here -

Mom has been promising to take me to play with some sheepses since, gee, forever, I think. And today, she FINALLY did! We got up real early and had breakfast and went out to potty (well, us dogs did, anyway!) then Mom put all the other dogs inside and started putting all my stuff out in the truck…so I knew something good was going on. Then she put me in the truck and we drove and drove and drove. Seemed like forever – way farther than going to Dog School. I thought we’d never get there, wherever “there” was. But finally we got to the end of a bumpy road in the middle of some big fields that smelled delicious! I couldn’t wait to get out and check everything out, but Mom had to stop and talk to the humans there. (She talks too much!)

It was a neat place – all sorts of great smells, and lots of tasty stuff on the ground that Mom didn’t want me to eat. She said she was worried that there might be Ivermectin in it, but I think she just doesn’t appreciate good munchies. Still, she did give me liver treats instead, so I guess it wasn’t too bad. We met a lot of other dogs and their people. There was a big Rottweiler with a long tail – I’ve never seen a Rottie with a long tail before, but it looked good on him. And a couple of Australian Cattle Dogs, and a little mixed breed. And then some other collies came; they were the best, of course! Well, the best dogs, anyway…

The really best thing was the SHEEPSES! Mom and Carolyn, the lady who runs the place, took me up by a pen with 4 sheepses in it. Mom took off my leash and let me do my thing – and boy, did I ever show them how it’s done! I kept those sheepses moving real nice; Carolyn said I was “wearing”, whatever that means. I just know that I kept trotting back and forth behind them to keep them moving where Mom seemed to want them to go. Mom went in the pen with them, but I was still outside. Those stupid sheepses weren’t listening to Mom at all, so, when she brought me into the pen, I really put them in their place! Got them galloping all around the pen! One of them jumped straight up in the air, and almost landed on top of me, but I kept right on herding them. Even when Mom told me to come, I kept right on herding them. She says my brain fell out of my nose at that point, but I didn’t forget what “come” means…I just knew that I was a whole lot better at getting those sheep to obey, than Mom was. So it was up to me to keep herding them, right?

But Mom made me stop, and we went out of the pen so Mom and Carolyn could talk. I dunno why they couldn’t let me keep herding while they were talking, but Mom can be a real spoilsport sometimes! I kept watching the sheep, but I heard some of what they were talking about – and they were talking about ME, of course! Carolyn said I passed the test, and then she said a bunch of stuff about “keeping the stock grouped” and “readily adjusts” and “has sufficient power for stock” and “shows ready adjustment to fetching and driving” and “very natural wearing in fetching balance”. I’m not sure what all that means, but it must be good, because Mom was very happy. She says now I’ll get my Herding Instinct Certificate from the Collie Club, and I’ll have more letters after my name…Alphabet Soup, that’s what she calls my letters.

The only bad thing was, I didn’t get to herd nearly long enough! The other dogs that went before me got to herd for 20 minutes or so, but I only got 7 minutes. That’s not fair, is it? They weren’t nearly as interested as I was, or as good, so how come they got so much more time? I wanna go back and get my other 13 minutes! But Mom says that’s all we needed to do for the test, and now we have to take lessons. I think Mom’s the one who needs the lessons, not me, but I’ll be happy to take her to Sheep School any time! I love sheepses…