As Winter Breaks

The resident fox is out and about frequently which continually toys with the Kelpies who have been wanting to follow his trail for months now but have been impeded by snow and fencelines. But the other morning we stepped across the fence line on a snow bank, got ourselves to a hill top and explored from there. Me, just eager to reconnect with prairie land and the Kelpies just eager to follow fox trails.

Oh, the prairie land… with the snow receding I get the smallest glimpse of grass, a reminder of the condition the prairie was in when it went dormant. It is thin and dry but I am grateful for it regardless of condition. It amazes me that even dead and dormant prairie grass can give me a boost.

As winter breaks, the days open up and the light changes as the warmth in the sun becomes known. March is a trickster month. The suns warmth and the drips of melting snow speak of beginnings and starting anew, and yet beginning any thing new is still just out of reach due to frozen underground and freezing nights.

Still the spirits lift with each layer of clothing shed. Geese have returned and jogging and bike riding are doable activities once again much to the Kelpies delight. So is working sheep with stock dogs, just for the heck of it. The Kelpies are joining me once again for the evening flock checks and I’ve been stealing ten or fifteen minutes to work them on sheep, where ever we find ourselves. The past few years have been all consuming ones with the building our home, building that we did ourselves. This is the first spring in four years that feels like it comes with a little more wiggle room, and that we can look to other plans again.

A rural slice of prairie, the home, the dogs, the flock; comfortable familiarity with just these things and little else. These are the very things that made our path a little easier to navigate this past year and bring us into spring with some amount of optimism. This is the way of life and the things that are normal to me and to so many other rural folk, and these are the very things that keep life plugging along as usual while all around the world seems to turn inside out.

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A Whole Lot Of Canine

Each guardian dog grows into a signature habit, a routine move they can be recognized by. Some like to melt into the flock, some always show up to lead on a move, one always stays on the fringe. This fellow, at one year of age, is showing his preference for finding lookout points and watching horizons.

In the pack no one interferes with another individuals way of working. The society of dogs is a marvel, not because it is always calm and kind – it is far from that at times, but because it is so fluid. Fluid meaning the pack is not stagnant, it will change when it needs to as often as it needs to. Fluid meaning also the smoothness of a pack when it is in working order.

This winter the dogs have sorted themselves into pairs with the senior dog being the odd man out. The female AkbashX and the male Maremma are the top pair. Then there is the black pup and the female Maremma who have become fast friends. The third pair is the two Anatolian males who are sticking together and are often with the rams.

I have no say in the matter. Let me rephrase that – I understand there is no need for me to have any say, that it is better for them if I am just the observer. There is no reason to think I know better than they do about who to hang with and when. By summer time when the grazing shifts and the flock shifts the dogs will shift working order as well.

Experience has taught me that these periods of grace within a pack of dogs are cherished times. I find myself wishing for nothing to rock their boat so that this period of peace can last and last and last. I also notice the sting of realization that the guardian dog pack has some stark contrasts to the pack of Kelpies who reside with me. By virtue of living in a pack with me the Kelpie pack of dogs is less fluid. I meddle when I shouldn’t, I dismiss all the understanding gleaned from watching a pack of guardian dogs and hence the Kelpies get far too wrapped up in human living.

When we were experiencing our first few guardian dogs I felt sorry for them because they did not live with me in my comfy home. Now the tides have changed significantly and I feel more sorry for the Kelpies who have all the comforts of a home BUT must endure human whims which the guardian dogs are free of. This is not to say the Kelpies have it bad, they certainly don’t, but I must acknowledge they don’t quite have the same freedom to be dog. And now that I have lived with different types of working dogs for as long as I have I understand the importance of that freedom.

Some of this learning from the guardian dogs has trickled into the working relationship with the Kelpies. I no longer desire to control or micromanage their work as we commonly get taught to do with stock dogs. Instead I want to balance having a useful work dog with them having freedom to think for themselves and make choices. The difference is delicate and feels good. It feels like it’s a next step.

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Woolen Reconnect

In this scene of the felted flock recently shared on social media platforms it was the Magpie that caught all the attention. The bird resonated with sheep producers and stirred a common exclamation of familiarity and awe. And that has me wondering why.

One little magpie. A familiarity of the scene. One little magpie brings the relevance of this project to light, becomes the link that connects sheep producers to the real life aim of this project. One little magpie connects onlookers to the real life community of animals wool comes from.

Magpies gliding over herds of livestock, lighting on the back of ewes, watching for morsels of dog food, playing with fate as it tries to steal, lighting on a body after a death, picking at bones. For North Americans living a land and livestock life the magpie is the ever present travel companion, giving both annoyance and comfort. The magpie is every place, every season; the magpie sees all. The magpie knows what the shepherd sees day in and day out. We’ve all watched the magpies and we’ve all been watched by them. If the magpie shared our verbal language what stories would it tell us and tell others?

Magpie. A symbol of relevance and of familiarity and connection in a land and livestock life. A reminder to tread lightly and show respect, there is a Magpie watching.

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