Not wanting to go too far and tempt fate, I turned around to
stop her. I was not so idealistic as to
believe she would stop with my back turned.
There was the little group of ram lambs about 10 feet behind me, walking
along, occasionally glancing back at the one poor sod who Rhyme had
caught. She must have gotten a hold of
him right after I turned my back. This
was when I had Navajo Churros. Long
draping fleeces in a variety of colors. She
had a huge swath of fleece from the britches of this poor lamb and was using it
like a rope to haul him backwards. Her
feet were spread and dug in, muscled bulged on her fit little body. She was hauling on that hunk of fleece like a
champion tug of war contestant. Inch by
inch she was pulling this poor lamb backwards.
The only part of him making forward progress were his eyes, bugging out
of his head. The rest of the group was
showing the classic ovine survival response.
“She’s got Joey. Just keep
moving. Poor Joey, but it’s not my turn
to be eaten today.”
It was a long time before I turned my back on Rhyme again. Thursday, December 3, 2015
Trust Your Dog
Rhyme, self-appointed royalty in her current life, was an
opinionated creature to train. Certain
commands were deemed irrelevant to her rarified consciousness. Commands like “Lie Down”. She’d come around the top on a lovely cast,
turn in, and drive into the sheep and catch one. I would go up the middle and push her back
over and over and over and over. I’d
send her and start walking, every time. This
was understandably frustrating. It was
difficult to keep myself calm. I grew
tired of constantly reprimanding her and holding her back, struggling to keep
the annoyance from my attitude. I knew
that to some degree the constant corrections added energy to the
situation. One day on a large open field
with a group of ram lambs I decided to trust her, stop the nagging, just turn
around and let her bring the sheep along with me. I started with a small gather. She stopped at the top, good. As she brought the sheep to me I turned
around and started walking. No nagging,
pushing on her, nothing. It was
working! I stayed looking ahead as I
walked briskly along, but could hear the quiet patter of the group of sheep
just a short distance behind me. Rhyme
always had lovely balance and never was one to let any of her charges wander
off. I relaxed. This was the secret. I’d been sustaining her bad behavior with the
energy of my constant corrections.
Hallelujah! I walked about 50
yards, the little group of ram lambs trip trapping along behind me.
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