Every farm has a dog. I can’t think of a single farm, big or little, that doesn’t have a dog. Farms and dogs just go together like bees and honey.
If you come up our driveway there is a very good chance that you’ll be greeted by a black and white rocket running straight for your vehicle tail raised and wagging while barking the entire time to let us humans know someone is here!
JD will be circling your vehicle as you slowly creep up the driveway and will very impatiently wait for you to park so he can get patted and show you his favorite ball or some stick that he found in the woods in hopes you’ll play fetch with him.
For the most part JD is a companion dog for us. He follows Genevieve almost everywhere around the farm, or she’ll be following him. He hangs out in the garden with me during spring planting, follows behind the hay wagon in the summer while we pick up bales, and is a decent mouser in the garden and barn(about as good as the cats).
Recently, in the past year or so, JD has been helping with the sheep too. This is new to the both of us, and it may not be pretty, and we’re not using the ancient terms that shepherds have used for centuries while working sheep but it works for us. He knows his Left and Right and can effectively keep the sheep out of the barn while I put grain in the feeders. And when we have to put out a new round bale JD is a huge help keeping the ladies at bay.
Not only does it give JD a chance to exercise his brain and do what he was bred to do as a border collie x aussie, it has made life much less stressful for the sheep and for me. Now while graining the ladies I’m not getting run over or crowded, and my legs are a lot less bruised without having to fight my way through a sea of horns and hooves. And while Nick and I are putting a round bale out for the sheep we no longer have to play defense while opening the bale and putting the feeder around. JD is much more effective at running after sheep to give us the space we need to safely work.
JD is our farm dog, he is our family dog and no matter how you look at it I don’t believe this farm would function as well as it does with out him.