Dogs.
We went to a working sheep farm and met a very interesting shepherd, named Neil, who had at least 11 border collies all of whom were trained to herd sheep. Every single dog has its own unique commands so that he can direct them individually. It was one if the most amazing things I have ever seen.
In the picture below, Neil separated one of the sheep from the herd (literally used his crook to pull it out by the neck). I don't know how he got it to do this, but you see how the sheep is collapsed against his legs and it looks kind of dead?
It just lay there while he talked, it was crazy. He started shearing one side with manual hand shears that look like great big scissors. And then he asked for a volunteer....
Brave man. Brian got to keep a bit of the wool.
The whole time this was going on, about half the dogs were begging the group for petting.
So after the shearing, we got to see....the puppies!!!!
And the lambs!!!
Then I made friends with a very sweet dog.
After all that, we went back to the Gaskmore Hotel in Laggan. And this is the view from our room.
I'm going to try to post a video of the dogs working the sheep when I get back to a wifi signal.
That's all for tonight! Time for a nightcap.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:The Highlands
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