Well,  you will probably never see this on those sylvan trips to the British Isles or on those You Tube videos, but here at Bedlam Farm, we’ve assembled our own appropriately unorthodox line-up of herding and working dogs, who help us keep the sheep in line.

One, Red, is disciplined and classically trained, he holds the sheep in place with his very fierce gaze and wolf-like demeanor. His companion, Fate, is from Wales, and has enormous herding instincts but no  desire to push the sheep around, they ignore her or chase her off. Still, she is game, she sits with Red and helps to hold the line, she is quite brave around him.

We like to think of Fate as the Ferdinand of sheep, she doesn’t like to make them do things they don’t wish to do.

Then there is Gus, who is new to this sheep-herding stuff and has his own very unconventional way of working.  He is not much bigger than a rabbit, and does not fool himself into thinking he can make a flock of sheep move or run. He faithfully takes up position behind the other two dogs and glowers at the sheep excitedly, sometimes.

Sometimes  he just looks around, he loves to be with the other dogs, but stays well out of the fray. Sometimes he will bark at the sheep with great purpose, but no effect.

I sometimes wonder what this all looks like from the point of view of the sheep (what has this lunatic done now?), so this morning I got behind them and lowered myself to their level and took some photos.

In its own way, this lineup is pretty impressive. Nobody is challenging them, the sheep stay right where they are supposed to stay. When we are done with our chores, Gus is the first one out the door, followed by Fate, and then Red. I am grateful for Red.