A New Hobby for Murphy and Me

Yesterday, Murphy and I went on an adventure. I've been thinking about new activities for him as we both have kind of gotten bored with our usual walk. The walks are fine, but Murphy's been giving me the side-eye as we walk along, like he's trying to tell me, "Hoomin, weze bin dis way zillions of times. Derz no nu smells. I's need nu smells." After a lot of thinking and researching, I found Dogwood Farms in Indiana. 

So Murphy and I drove over to see if he would like to herd sheep. It turns out he kinda does. At first, he was just totally confused. Mary Lou, the shepherd of Dogwood Farms and trainer of sheep dogs, said the confusion is perfectly normal. There was a lot going on that Murphy was trying to figure out. Towards the end of the session, Mary Lou dropped the lead to see how Murphy reacted. I totally get why she didn't want to just turn him loose from the get-go. I would have been mortified if Murphy had gone all attack-mode. But he didn't. He actually seemed to realize he was supposed to keep the sheep together. There were a couple of moments when he made moves that indicated his brain was kicking in and guiding him.


Mary Lou working with Murphy.

We had so much fun we're going to return to the sheep farm next Saturday for another session. Mary Lou told me it'll take a good year for Murphy to really get it and understand what is being asked of him. So I'm thinking this will be our thing for the next year. Twice a month I'll drive over. Eventually, I'll be learning right alongside Murphy, so the hope is that in a year we both can herd sheep.



Stand-off



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