Lumi, our someday-to-be sheepdog is now 3 1/2 months old. We call her Lumi, Lumi Lou, Luminescence. Not because we are trying to create a multilingual dog or that we enjoy confusing her-it is simply because when you fall in love you call the object of your affections all sorts of silly names. (This habit extends to all the dogs from Red, Red to Coda Bean to Beasley Butt).
Of course Lumi is special, it is her job to save us from prolonged periods of frustration and screaming at the sheep. And so far, she is living up to her hype. She is smart, trainable, fairly well mannered. She sleeps through the night in her crate. Well, that is when we remember to shut the crate, otherwise she reminds Molly by nibbling on her feet. But what do you expect when you hang your feet off the bed?
I would be remiss if I did not admit that although good, she is far from perfect. As a herder, she is a nipper. She occasionally becomes over-exuberant in her nipping with us; we quickly correct. She learns. The main victim is our no-longer-youngest dog Rika (Rika Rika Poo if you were wondering, sung to the Scooby Doo theme song for full effect). Lumi will nip, bite, herd, coerce that poor girl. Rika is too nice to fight back-she’s only tough in groups- so she runs away like crazy. Occasionally she will throw a very serious growl the puppy’s way, but only if she is laying up with us on the couch. That is a non-negotiable.
Sidenote-If you are thinking: Oh no! Dogs on the couch. For shame! For Shame! Then either A-You are the reincarnated soul of my grandmother or 2-You haven’t been paying attention to how much we love dogs.
Lumi is an enthusiastic greeter, full bore jumping and occasionally scratching. For several weeks the entire family looked like we were involved in late night cat wrestling. She is better now, as we have trained her to hup (sit) as she approaches.
Lumi’s future is bright. Molly has taken the reins on her training, and she is working on down-an important command we need her to know and obey around sheep. Oh yes sheep. She enjoys sniffing, woofing at those wooly creatures (she also bugs the goats, but we don't need a goat herding dog). Thus far when introduced to them in the pen, on a leash, she is smart, not aggressive. It helps even the smallest sheep is twice her size, and most have horns. Safety first pup.
Next we begin serious pen work, learning Come by, Away, and all the other commands all the books and videos teach us. For some reason most of these videos are European, so my Come by is in a hardy Scottish brogue, I can’t help it. Maybe we do need a bilingual dog after all.
Jon & Molly Moore, of Hoof and Paw Farm, raise Icelandic, BFL, and Painted Desert sheep on a small farm near Helena, MT. They offer raw fleece and prepared fiber.
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