I was in the small Scottish town of Aberfoyle yesterday. It is located just near the start of the highlands, about thirty five miles from Glasgow. We went to the Woolens Center which was much like an outlet mall in the USA. The point of the visit, however, was not the shopping. We were there for the demonstration by the sheep dogs. It was a fascinating time.
For starters, the host of the show (and the master of the dogs) was an Italian named Ricardo. It seemed stranger that the shepherd in rural Scotland would be Italian, but in Europe these days national boundaries are less important than in the past. Ricardo was in Scotland, he told us, because that is where the sheep are. The Scots have something like two and a half sheep for each person in the country. We got to see about fifteen varieties of sheep at the start of the show. I have always pictured sheep as white and fleecy; they actually come in all sorts of colors and shapes.
After the sheep, we met the sheep dog. Ricardo's dog is a border collie, that black and white breed that lives to herd things. In our show, the dog was given the task of herding geese. That's right, you read that correctly. The dog was herding geese. He managed to get a group of six geese to go through an entire set of obstacles. The geese went through a long plastic tube, they went up a ladder and down a slide, and they ended up in an enclosure. For someone who has never seen a sheep dog in action before, it was an eye opener. The dog was masterful. It is true that Ricardo was giving directions with oral commands and whistles, but the dog did the work.
The visit to Aberfoyle was a look back to a simpler time. It is too bad that we cannot unleash sheep dogs on the federal government in order to get things accomplished. It would surely be an improvement.
For starters, the host of the show (and the master of the dogs) was an Italian named Ricardo. It seemed stranger that the shepherd in rural Scotland would be Italian, but in Europe these days national boundaries are less important than in the past. Ricardo was in Scotland, he told us, because that is where the sheep are. The Scots have something like two and a half sheep for each person in the country. We got to see about fifteen varieties of sheep at the start of the show. I have always pictured sheep as white and fleecy; they actually come in all sorts of colors and shapes.
After the sheep, we met the sheep dog. Ricardo's dog is a border collie, that black and white breed that lives to herd things. In our show, the dog was given the task of herding geese. That's right, you read that correctly. The dog was herding geese. He managed to get a group of six geese to go through an entire set of obstacles. The geese went through a long plastic tube, they went up a ladder and down a slide, and they ended up in an enclosure. For someone who has never seen a sheep dog in action before, it was an eye opener. The dog was masterful. It is true that Ricardo was giving directions with oral commands and whistles, but the dog did the work.
The visit to Aberfoyle was a look back to a simpler time. It is too bad that we cannot unleash sheep dogs on the federal government in order to get things accomplished. It would surely be an improvement.
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