The Five Virgins

Just like a beginner skier starts on the bunny hill, a beginner herding dog starts with easy, or dog-broke, sheep. In other words, the sheep must be somewhat used to people, know how to flock together, and be used to dogs working them. I don’t have dog-broke sheep. So, not only do we have to teach the dog to herd sheep, we have to train the sheep so that they are used to dogs. I’ve received all kind of advice on how to dog-break sheep, and even been told to just buy some trained sheep. I’m going with my trainer’s advice. She, a very experienced handler, is going to take her very experienced dog and work our very inexperienced sheep. Then, once the sheep are working well, she’ll work my dog on the sheep. In an ideal world, I’d used our older ewes for this project because older sheep are easier to work than younger ones. The problem, though, is that my older ewes are pregnant, and I don’t want to stress them. So, I’m left with the Five Virgins – 10-month-old ewe lambs that we didn’t breed this year.