Fun and work

When you play, play hard;
when you work, don't play at all

~Theodore Roosevelt

Mali and Lucy decided that it was high time for fun and games.
They raced around like a bunch of pups,
 as the sun was setting.

And, then it was back to work...
All serious, and serene.

Job description

I love the fact that some comments and statements from Facebook get me thinking about many LGD related topics. I recently had an interchange with someone about Livestock Guardian Dogs that got me thinking.

So, let me throw out a few random thoughts:

Is it true that if you are a Kenyan, you are, therefore, a great long distance runner?

Are you a psychiatrist because you watch Dr. Phil?

Are you a shepherd if you live in the city, but have never had a sheep or goat before?

No?

You see, in the dog world, we have breeds that are then placed in Groups. The Groups generally describe the similar functions shared by different breeds. For example, a Group of herding dogs would include the Border Collie, Rough Collie, Bearded Collie, Australian Shepherd, Kelpie, etc.

Now, just because your breed falls into a specific Group,
does not necessarily mean that your dog actually does this job.

A working sheepdog is, in my opinion, a herding dog working almost daily in its job of moving stock, penning them, and gathering them.
In other words, they work together with the handler to move livestock.

A “Border Collie” is in the Herding Dog Group, but it is not necessarily a working sheep dog. The same applies to the Rough Collie; it falls into the Group of Herding Dogs but, in all honesty, very few Rough Collies, today, are actually out working cattle and sheep.
Some simply, do not even have any instinct or desire to want to work livestock.
Just because it is placed into the box “Herding Dogs,” that does not mean that it is a herding, stock moving,
and therefore,
a working sheepdog.

Now, on to Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs).

Simply, because a breed falls into the “Sheepdog” Group,
that does not make it a sheepdog (the Saarloos Wolf Dog also falls in this group!).

  To me, LGD is a job description.
The job entails living 24/7/365 in with the livestock; its job is to protect the livestock from predators.

When I see ads for LGDs where the dog is lounging on the couch, living as a family pet, kenneled, or kept chained up (away from stock), it is not a LGD to me.
 It may be a Great Pyrenees, Maremma, Sarplaninac, or a Kangal, which are breeds…
but that still does not make it a LGD.

How can it be a Livestock Guardian Dog if it is not out living with the livestock?

Puppy buyers need to be aware that not all LGD breeds are actually Livestock Guardian Dogs.
In addition, cross breeding between LGDs and non-livestock guardian dog breeds (herding/hunting/retrieving/pets) could end in disaster for your stock.

Being a LGD is a job description performed by dogs of specific breeds.
Without this job, the dog is still a breed,
 just not a Livestock Guardian Dog.

4-H

This past weekend has been, all about
4-H with the kids.

I am the Sheep leader for our small 4-H club,
we have 5 lamb members.
They decided that wanted to organize a

Regional 4-H Sheep Day.

Traditionally, very little happens in this area for the sheep project kids,
so they decided to take the proverbial

"bull by the horns"
to organize a learning day for the  sheep kids in the Peace region.

The 5 kids,  put a huge amount of work into finding sponsors for this event.
We approached various speakers and presenters for this day,
and we organised a hands-on grooming competition.

The first clinic was given by Tommy Elliott,
he taught the kids how to prepare a lamb for show, gave reasons why you need to trim a lamb in a certain way, show prep and some grooming tips.

The next session was given by Tommy's lovely wife Rae, who explained the finer points in showmanship and handling of the show animal.

All the kids had a turn in handling and showing a sheep.

Lunch was pizza and a quiz.

While the kids were busy, we held a
cooking course
"How to Cook Lamb"
Pat Brummer, a red seal chef prepared some awesome (our) lamb for everyone to taste!

Before:

After,
wow this was good!!

After lunch, the kids were divided into teams of two and were given a lamb to groom.
The first challenge was to halter break it, move it to its spot, and then in an hour, get it as show ready as possible. They were judged on techniques, team work, result and application of the knowledge from the morning sessions.

Once the lambs were all trimmed up, the next session was given by our local vet,
 Dr Kim,
who taught the kids
about sheep judging, how to place and  reasoning of their placement.

The kids were feeling a little tired, so the final session was a feeding workshop given by Eric.
Tired kids, sitting down in a warm room resulted in one kid falling asleep,

other than that,
 it was good session.

The consensus was that the day was fun, they learn't a lot and would like to attend another one next year.
One of the participants said they would like to do this monthly..
Uhmm.. no way, once a year is enough!

I must give a shout out to all the amazing sponsors who came forward to help us, pay for the day!
Without the small town support of these events,
 very little would happen!

Moving on to Sunday, another whole day dedicated to 4-H.
This time the club held its Public Speaking Competition.

The kids can choose to do a presentation or a speech.
Roy did a PowerPoint presentation on "Submarines and Submersibles".

Jess did a speech in the seniors category.
Her topic was "Agri-terrorism"

The kids did really well, Jess won the senior speeches and Roy was second in the intermediate presentations.
Both he and Jess move on to the District level competition, this next weekend.

This week is filled with 4-H meetings, planning of District Achievement Day,
club meetings and evaluation of the Regional Sheep day.