“Liam better not be trying to leave the barn; he’s not allowed to do that!”
I have no idea why Angel picks on Liam so much, except that he’s the only male she’s ever flirted with who wasn’t even the slightest bit interested. No wrath like a woman scorned? But still, what is it she objects to about Liam going in and out of the barn specifically?
“I’m not budging until she goes away!”
Discretion is the better part of valor, Liam says. Losing half of one horn in a fight last winter didn’t take the wind out of Angel’s sails for long. Unfortunately, since I can’t close the barn gate until everyone’s out, and he won’t leave until Angel’s not looking.
“Can I have treats while we’re waiting?”
There’s been just enough of a chill in the air the last few mornings for me to pull out the Magic Coat with the big pockets for treats, which always generates a lot of sheepy interest, particularly from Mira, whose bottles also used to go in those pockets when she was a baby and we went outside. This “chilly” temperature in the sixties would be short sleeves weather in February or March, but this is late August so it feels cold.
“The rest of these sheep better not be going to breakfast ahead of me; they’re not allowed to do that!”
Fortunately Angel does not have the patience for a prolonged seige. Not counting Liam, Mira, or the boys flock there’s fifteen other sheep out there to bully keep in line!
“Is she gone?”
“Yep, the coast is clear!”
After everyone is out and I have the barn closed up for the day, we all march down to the field gate. Or at least the Soays do, the Shetlands don’t like me (or any of the Soays) to walk behind them, so they usually hang back until the rush hour traffic clears out.
“Time to go in the big yard!”
Unfortunately Blue was already in the big yard waiting for me to come back, so the sheep had to wait until Blue had escorted me back to the little yard so I could close the yard gate.
He was very concerned when Dad walked back down to open the gate to let the sheep into the yard.
“Hey wait, where’s he going without me?“
“He let the sheep out? Without me? That’s not allowed!”
Blue is actually very good about not harassing the sheep for being in “his” yard, but he doesn’t like his people going where he can’t get to them and especially not when they go on adventures into the super fun big yard without him!
He’s always a crazy ball of wild energy in the mornings, but once he runs it out of his system he’s pretty good about calming down and laying in the house with Echo for a while. Usually while using beds incorrectly.
One leg on the bed out of eight combined total dog legs is apparently good enough for coziness when you’ve been working hard all morning sprinting all over the place!
Well. Echo mostly just walked up the hill from the basement to the back door, but that’s a lot of work for a lazy old dog who does most of his running in his dreams.
Blue likes to supervise anything we do with the sheep but doesn’t seem overly preoccupied with micromanaging them otherwise. He directs most of his inborn collie vigilance towards keeping track of all the humans, making sure at least one human is paying attention to him at all times (preferably while sitting on the floor holding a bone for him to chew), and that no one is petting Echo at any time.
We’re working on convincing him he’s not allowed to stop Echo from getting attention too, but whenever he detects illegal Echo-pets happening he still tries to insert himself in the way and “subtly” shoulder-check Echo out of arm’s reach, and failing that wails and flails and generally acts like he’s dying of grief about it. Fortunately Echo is 40lbs heavier and 10 years older than Blue and mostly just finds his efforts annoying rather than distressing, but it’s still very unnecessary, all things considered.
“You better not be petting Echo; you’re not allowed to do that!”
Sigh. Such very bossy and dramatic animals live here. Fortunately for them, they’re also sweet and cute.