Why did I think I could trust Sally??

We've just come back from our annual summer holiday with my sister and her family. This year we decided we should stay close to home, avoid lots of congestion and miles of travel and go to our favourite place on the planet. We went to the English Lake District and it lived up to our expectations.

On Monday we decided to walk around the Coniston area and up to Tarn Howes. The sun was shining and all was well. Minutes after parking the car and walking around a little tarn I heard my son shouting and laughing. He had mis-judged a jump and landed right in up to his waist! This was going to be an interesting walk. The dogs ran ahead of us. Ten minutes up a boggy track we heard my nephew yell. This time the boys had stumbled upon an adder on the path. Not very big but enough to give the boys a scare.

Ten minutes more passed before we came to the designated watering hole in the form of Yew Tree Farm. It was once owned by Beatrix Potter and was used as her home in the recent film staring Renee Zelweger as Beatrix herself. We decided to sit in the sun outside and have drinks and cakes before making it up the fell to Tarn Howes. Jill carefully tied Sophie, her black Lab to the table leg. My family watched in unbelief as I let go of Sally for a couple of seconds to make it easier to tie her lead to the table. They said things like 'Don't let go of Sally' and 'Why have you let go of Sally?' This drew the attention of all the groups of people who were there enjoying refreshments in the garden. I was mildly annoyed at their undue panic and said 'Don't worry, I trust her'. I'm sure she twigged she was free at this point. She shot off out of the garden gate, up the path leading to the farm house, into the hallway and right to the back of the house. I was in hot pursuit, followed keenly by every eye in the garden! I've been to this place before and so I knew that Sally had just gone into a very quaint and plush living room with her very muddy paws! I had to shout to the people working in the kitchen, tell them about the dog and ask their permission to retrieve her. They said 'Please do!' As I led my very untrustworthy dog out of the house and back to our table in the garden I felt the disapproving eyes of every other person upon me. I held my head low and let my family have a good laugh at my stupid error of judgement.

When we made it to the top of Tarn Howes Sally once again showed her true colours. I was about to take a photo of my family tucking into their picnic when I noticed that Sally had crept up on Joseph and was about to snatch his sandwich from his hand. If you look closely at the top photo in this blog you will see the evidence for your-self.

Here we are, both dogs tied securely to the table, enjoying a refreshment break at Yew Tree Farm.

Nurture or Nature?

If you've read any of my previous posts you might have gathered that Sally is pretty nifty at rounding up sheep. After the first display, only minutes after getting her home, and then subsequent events it got me a wondering how she came to be so good at it. After all she was only 4 months old when we got her and we certainly hadn't given her any tips! Could it be that its all in the genes? Is the instinct so strong in the breed that it just kind of happens?

Well, I'm certainly no expert on the matter in general but I am a little wiser now.

I work with Sally's previous owner and once I'd explained to her that Sally had escaped and rounded up the sheep in the field next to our home she said: 'Oh well she would. She's been out every morning and every evening with her mother who's been rounding all the sheep up on our farm.' Her young son had by this time joined in the conversation. He added: 'Yes, and she can round cows up too, well one at a time.'

So maybe that is a clue as to how come Sally is such a pro. However I also learned that one of Sally's siblings, who was bought to work with sheep turned out not to be such a natural. He's since gone to pastures anew.

I'm therefore still left pondering the time old question - nurture or nature????? I haven't got the foggiest!

Run Rabbit, Run Rabbit, Run, Run, Run...

I could have written this blog a while ago but its taken me until now to calm down! It all started out with an innocent evening stroll with... yes you've guessed it, our dog Sally.

Things were going so nicely. We had been working all day then decided to get back into holiday mode with a visit to a picture postcard pretty country pub for a meal polished off by a walk to melt away a few calories and give Sally some well deserved exercise. The back drop was the imposing and impressive Ingleborough fell and surrounding rural farming land.

After the meal we set off up the hill, not knowing where we would meander, but not too far, not too far. After a couple of minutes we saw a footpath sign heading towards the nearest little town, through a few fields, only 3/4 of a mile there then we could wind our way back to the cars, perfect - or so we thought.

We entered the farm drive then straight into the first field. No sheep just a few rabbits scurrying for cover. Sally was in her element, first time to stretch her legs all day. She bombed around after those bunnies, leaping like them right up into the air. She then circumnavigated the field looping us in big circles, instinct coming right to the fore. It seemed to us at this point wrong to tie her to the leash. She got to the next field before us - not good. It was crammed full of fluffy white moving objects! They took one look at Sally and for some reason bombed down to the next field. She noticed and decided to follow - see what all the fuss was about. We shouted, hollered but she had that concentrated look. She just sat away from them, looking at them in a way that said 'Go back into the field where you just escaped from - NOW.' Well when they saw that they bombed even faster back through the gate, one actually threw itself at the fence before bouncing back and running back through the gate! We carried on calling Sally. We know from experience that it is futile to chase her, she runs much faster than any of us. Our policy is to keep walking as we know she actually likes to be with us. Sure enough it worked. As soon as she noticed we were no longer in sight she raced over to us. By this time we were lost, off the beaten footpath, foxed by a wonky sign. Sally is so clever, she must have worked out where we were using her sense of hearing or something. She ran to greet us. Only one problem - another field of sheep between us! Yes the sheep fled when they saw Sally running up to us, and yes that got her attention. She rounded them up at the top of the field before coming back to us. We were so relieved to see a gate at the bottom of the field, I can tell you. Now we could get on with the walk and get home. That's when the adventure took off to another level altogether!

I saw it first, swooping over the horizon like a Star Wars battleship full of Storm Troopers! And it was heading at full speed right down to us! The very angry farmer jumped down from his Land Ranger and let us know in no uncertain terms that he would not tolerate people trespassing on his land, particularly when their dog was chasing his sheep! 'GET OFF MY LAND NOW!' 'I'm telling you I will shoot the dog!' I will not tolerate a dog chasing my sheep!' 'I don't know what you are finding so funny!' Were some of his words of greeting. Oh boy!!!! Were we in trouble!

The worst of it was we were in the wrong. We had been stupid. We did not find it funny! We could only apologise and get out as fast as we could. Only one problem there. We couldn't figure out how to get out. The gate was tight shut. We had to call to the farmer and ask how to get out. That didn't go down very well. 'Move the big stone, it was put there for a reason!' came his angry reply. 'Don't let me find you or that dog on my land again. I won't tolerate it!' No worries there.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

I'm not writing this blog because I find it funny, honest. Its more of a confession. I actually feel really sorry and do see it from the farmer's angle. I know a few farmers, have farmers for friends, and have great respect for the hard work and long hours they put in to keep our country going; our landscape would be impoverished without their care and I don't think we realise the difference they make or the dedication they put in. I will be far more diligent from now on about where to let Sally off lead. Lesson learnt.

Stampede

One frustrated dog begging to be taken on a walk, 3 owners willing to oblige. That was the recipe that led to our latest adventure.

Although the nights are now starting to draw in we set off at around 8.30pm in a decent amount of light. We chatted about which route we would take as we walked through the village. I always try to extend every walk, just love being outside. Anyway the voice of reason won out this evening, we'd take a short route around the bottom end of the village, down a lane, into woods and back up to the road through a couple of farmer's fields. I could cope with that. We stopped and chatted to a neighbour, holidays, the weather, dogs meeting and doing their thing before we headed on. Joseph got us all skipping down the road. Hope nobody else was looking at that point! Onto the country lane and dog off lead. All going well. Sally did a Sally thing and ran the wrong way into a farmer's field then got anxious until she rejoined us. She ran ahead in the woods and we noticed she was jumping up to a shadowy figure heading our way. I ran to stop her only to notice this bloke had a couple of big shot guns under each arm. A little freaky! It had fallen dusky by this time and I was glad I wasn't alone. It's amazing how the atmosphere can suddenly change. It' ok, we thought, we only have the 2 fields to get through now before we rejoin the road.

I put Sally onto her lead to go through the fields; sometimes there are sheep up there. That's when I noticed them. First I thought I saw bullocks then I realised there were bullocks, cows, sheep and about 8 horses in the second field. Oh boy! The plan was to walk calmly around the horses and head on up to the top gate. Not a bad plan you might think. It would have been a great plan, a splendorous plan if a big horse behind us hadn't decided to charge at us all the way up the field and set the others off too!! I immediately let go of the lead, as I'd heard you should do in such an event. I took hold of Joseph and frog marched him away from the horses whilst Tony picked up the lead, protecting his girl (Sally) and had a huge horse rearing up about 2 metres away from him the entire time. It would back off then charge back kind of side ways. It was a terrifying thing to behold. Other horses started to get in on the act until we got well up the field. I've never been so glad to get out of a field. Talk about hearts racing, mine could have easily broken the 4 minute mile - without legs!

Since we got back in Sally has followed Tony everywhere and obeyed his every command, has laid in her basket and is now sending out the zs by her master's feet. I think she knows he was protecting her. Just hope she doesn't hold it against me for dropping the lead.

Home with Sally

Sally is in one of her moods right now. In fact as I type she keeps on bringing me a tennis ball to throw. She's just knocked over a little basket and keeps on pulling things out to chew only to have me take them off her and put them away again. Oh no, she's just run off with something and is now barking loudly. I think I'll have to make this a short blog and take that girl out for a walk.

I wrote recently about collecting Sally from the farm. That was the easy part. Once we got her home we decided to show her around our back garden . It was around 5pm in November and the light was almost gone. The garden is entirely enclosed so it didn't seem a stupid thing to do at the time. The trouble was that she was a great deal slimmer than she looked. Sally took all of 30 seconds to notice the flock of sheep at the far end of the field next to the garden and she slipped through the picket fence as quick as Jack Flash. We were in complete shock and had no clue what to do. This dog hadn't even been in the house yet and had no understanding that she now lived with or belonged to us. What on earth was going to happen? Where would she go? Hang on what was she doing with those sheep? I could not believe my eyes. She didn't try to attack them, she circled them, got their complete attention then got them together just like that. She took them to one end of the field, then the other. She was a pro! If I hadn't been in panic mode I may have been very proud of her performance. This was impressive stuff.

Then I called to Tony. 'You've got to get her back.' 'But how?' came the swift reply. 'I don't know but you've got to do it. If not we might lose her forever.' Tony headed over the fence and started chasing Sally all over the field, calling her by her new name (she probably had no clue who he was or who he was calling). I thought it was a lost cause and then I saw a very amazing transformation. All of a sudden Tony took control. He metamorphesised before my eyes from a 5 foot 4 gentle guy to a bear like figure who boomed 'Go back NOW' and pointed to the garden. Sally took one look at him and turned tail back home, a home she would get to know, get to love. Sally was finally with us for keeps.

So much for the short blog!

Bringing Sally Home

For about 6 months I'd been looking at dogs on the web. Actually the dogs I was looking at were Jack Russells. I'd been used to one as a kid. A cool one called Rufus, a real character who belonged to my grandparents. I have many happy memories of holidays in Bridlington with my grandparents and that dog. Anyway although I wanted a dog Tony was not that keen and no amount of pictures of cute Jack Russell pups could persuade him, so that was that.

Then one day at work I heard a friend say she had 2 Border Collie pups that she hadn't managed to sell and she didn't know where she would find homes for them.

When I got home I just casually relayed this information to Tony. To my amazement he said 'OK lets have a look at them.' 'Wow', I thought, I've got to seize this opportunity.

A few evenings later Tony brought Joseph to meet me after work. Joseph knew nothing about the pup. He soon worked it out when we arrived at the farm where 2 cute 4 month old pups bounded up.

We had a good look at both and went away to think it over. Both almost identical to look at but both with very different natures. There was one quiet shy one and one bounder - probably a handful. It should have been a no brainer. Surely the quiet one would be so much easier. All of us looked at each other. We all knew it had to be the bounder. Don't quite know why but we all just knew. And we decided right there and then that this bounder would be called Sally. A quick visit to a pet store to buy the things we would need then back to the farm at the weekend to bring Sally home. The adventure had begun!

That's my Girl

Here's Sally with Halti fitted! That's because she had been offered freedom only to abuse it! She had just run straight up to a picnicing family and caused screams and shock waves then had to be chased all over before we could bring her back to our spot. That sheep in the distance was minding it's own business and we thought it was best left that way. She's looking bonny nevertheless. Bless. Maybe one day we'll be able to trust her a little more but until then...

Mission Impossible

I've mentioned that Sally's favourite method of catching our attention seems to be by chewing through the TV wires. Well here's a little poem my husband Tony wrote about one such event and how he reacted. Enjoy!

Mission Impossible

'Joseph, come and watch me,

I'm going to rescue the snowman'

Joseph scurried down the garden path

following his dad,

a man on a mission,

a mission to rescue...

The snowman.

Some time earlier...

All was silent and then...

'SALLY!'

the word was yelled,

the sound wasn't turned down

on the old decibel box.

The volume was pumped up high

'STOP CHEWING THE WIRE!'

She stopped chewing,

she stared at me

with the word GUILTY tattooed over her forehead.

It didn't take Sherlock Holmes

to investigate the crime

She had clean cut through the wire

SNAP!

No more TV

CRACKLE!

The vision on the screen

POP!

went my emotions

She brought me her toy snowman

to play 'fetch'

but asking me to play a game right now

was a bit of a stretch

'Snowman I'm going to send you into orbit'

and I did

I flung him high

I flung him far

Sally didn't get it

Sally couldn't get it

He was in the field next door!

She stood staring at the poor stranded snowman, her face pushed through the fence

and I stood there feeling like a badman

...The sun was shining in the meadows

the grass was washed clean in the dew

and I knew what I had to do

what a man's got to do

'Fetch me a chair son,

I'm going over'

One green fence to climb

one barbed wire to leap

one slippery trainer

on one slippery slat of wood

if only I could leap like a gazelle

instead of having to yell:

AAARGGH!

as I belly flopped and popped into the farmer's field

The snowman smiled at me;

'I knew you'd come for me' he said.

The Day Sally went to Town

I wonder if you have ever experienced taking a dog into town for the very first time. I wonder if your dog was calm, cool and collected. I wonder, were you calm, cool and collected?

Here's what happened when we took Sally into Kendal for the very first time.

Out of the car, no trouble there. On with the lead, ok there too. Out of the car park, no problem then we hit the main street. Oh boy!! All the new noises, sights, movements, colours, smells, crowds of shoppers of all sizes and ages. A lot to take in for a dog so young and bouncy who has only ever experienced life on a farm and then in a rural village. Sally's eyes darted all around, she didn't know what to head towards first. Thankfully she was firmly attached to the lead but her pulling power instantly trebled there and then. We headed straight to the nearest pet shop to fit her with a 'Halti'; a kind of strap that fits over the nose and round the back of the head to help give more control to the poor person on the other end of the lead. Alpha female Sally didn't like this one little bit. We cut our shopping trip short and headed to the countryside for a walk.

Once we got on a quiet dirt track we took Sally off the Halti and lead. She decided to do a strop, show us what she thought, and dashed away from us, over a wall into an orchard as far away as she could get. No shouting, blowing of dog whistle or rattling of biscuits could encourage her back. After lots of searching and quite a lot of time we spotted her. The only way to get her back was to jump over the high dry stone wall and corner her.

It took a while. Eventually Tony, my long suffering other half, returned with the trophy, a very sheepish looking sheep dog, secured once again by her lead. We would wait for a night to pass before trying again to fit the Halti!

The Day I managed to wear Sally Out - A First

Yes you read it right. I actually wore Sally out. Never thought I would see the day! We've been on big hikes all week and she's bounded everywhere, circling me in big loops. She's walked at least three times as far as I have in circles around me. We've been walking around Ravenglass, St. John in the Vale and on top of Scout Scar as well as around the beautiful fields, nature reserve and woodland around our home.

I looked at her this evening and said 'Give me your paw if you want to go for a walk.' She stared at me but offered no paw. I repeated the question for in case she just didn't get it. I then said 'give me a paw if you want a biscuit.' The paw was offered in nanoseconds. She scoffed a biscuit. I then asked if she wanted a walk to go to the door. No movement then up she got and trotted to the ... biscuit cupboard, took another biscuit and promptly padded to her basket where she lay down and looked at me as if to say ' this baby is going nowhere!' She was soon sending out the zzs and stayed put til I told her to stand and go to bed. Sally sleeps in a little cabin outside. She upped and put herself into bed. Such an amazingly clever and for once outwalked dog. That's my girl.

A Walk along Scout Scar in the Rain

A great day out in the rain with Sally and Sophie today. We ventured Scout Scar and let the dogs off lead. Fantastic 360 degrees panaramic views up there - on a clear day. The mists clung to the hills so not much to see today. Oh, yes we did see something. Alarmingly Sophie alerted our attention to grazing bullocks all around us. She decided to challenge one! At that point we got the dogs leads out and put them on in double time and headed off in the opposite direction. Sally did have a little discussion with a young cow who decided to do just as Sally told her. She ran off to her herd. Sally looked very pleased with herself. Then it was off to Wilf's in Staveley for a well deserved lunch. Yum!

An Introduction to Sally - Our Cool Collie

Sally came into our lives in November 2008. Since then we've had so much fun. The kitchen floor has never been as dirty or as clean! This baby is full on and fabulous. There are so many stories I want to share but for now I'll just say she is an adorable Border Collie born on a farm nestled close to the North Yorkshire border now living in Lancashire close to the Cumbrian border who daily tries to outsmart her owners.

She knows just how to get our attention. For example the TV isn't working again. That may have something to do with a Sally who wanted to come back in the house so much that she pulled the aerial right out of the wall - for the 6th time!! That sure got my attention.

She has such a fun loving side too and loves to run for miiiiiiiles. Don't think I'll ever tire her.

Right now she's sending out the zzs tucked up with her blanket gathering the energy for another action packed day.

Tonight she had a great time running ragged with my sister's black lab, Sophie. We went for a fab walk around nearby woods and came back way after dark. While Sally stopped at a aptly parked drinking trough to lap up some water Soph jumped on in. So typical! Best of friends. We all stuck together the whole way which makes a lovely change.

More Sally adventures to come. Watch out.