Welcoming days for Millie

Millie is truly an absolute dear.  The transition to life here has not been without drama.  I am beginning to wonder if drama is attracted to me...  As I say, 'watch what you wish for!'

I met Millie at her farm where she had been for almost all of her four years.  She had been born on another local farm.  The owners of the present farm had recently sold off the sheep.  Millie and a border collie lived at the farm, alone, without animals or people.  Someone came to feed them every day or two.  The border collie had become cranky with no work to do and was known to snap at strangers.  Millie continued in her pleasant and friendly demeanour. 

There is a school of thought that LGD - livestock guardian dogs - know what to do and all you have to do is drop them into the livestock herd and you're all set.  What gets overlooked however with this perspective are the care basics.  In addition, often these dogs become almost feral and can be unmanageable.  So there are aspects of Millie that are quite challenging.

The sellers were an extra few days getting her to me as they could not get her into their vehicle.  She had never been in a vehicle.  And feeding her raw steak was not enough to convince her that getting into the vehicle would be good.  LGD's are very smart; independent and courageous.

When Millie arrived on the Saturday she was in a very large cage.  The cage was lifted down from the vehicle and into the Big Barn.  Then the doors were all closed.  I had already put Dot, Lucky and Lucy into a large pen in the Big Barn.  The idea was that Millie would bond with Dot and her family and the flock too would become accustomed to her presence in the pen in their midst.

Millie was let out of the cage and sniffed around the barn.  In a few minutes she came up behind me and stuck her head under my hand.  She knew what she wanted and she is very friendly.  I opened up the gate and sat in the pen, allowing Dot and her lambs out of the pen.  After about ten minutes Millie joined me in there. We got the sheep into the pen too and secured the gate.

I was informed that Millie was a jumper.  We arranged a few things to diminish that possibility.  We opened up the barn doors.  The sellers left.  I remained seated outside of Millie's pen for some time.  We talked.  I gave her treats.  Dot stamped her foot to ward off this intruder.  Lucky was kind of dopey.  He has been handled so much by people that he is losing most of his fear.  Lucy hid behind her mother.  The other sheep came in the barn and left quickly.

I checked back in the barn about every forty-five minutes.  Then an hour.  And longer each time.  I could see Millie from the vegetable garden.  I could here her.  I set up the baby monitor and could here the activity - when I turned on the receiver.

Millie took her job very seriously.  She was guarding Dot and her lambs.  When the other sheep reached to take Dot's hay through the gate mesh, Millie snarled or barked at them.  When a chicken got too close to Millie's food it got a good snarl.

Several times we heard Millie barking furiously in the night.  In the morning, something didn't seem right when I opened the door but it took me a few minutes to figure it out.  As the sheep were departing for the pasture I realised that Lucy had squeezed out through the bottom of the gate.  She bleated for her mother but followed the others out to pasture.  Millie stuck her nose through the opening as if indicating the problem.

Later, when Lucy returned to the barn I was able to lock her into the barn.  I was not having much success catching her so I opened the gate and let Dot and Millie and Lucky out into the larger area.

I had noticed that Millie did not soil her pen at all.  Millie explored the barn area and had a good long pee.  We talked.  We had pets.  She wants lots of loving.  She's fluffy.  She's big and white but really her white hair is streaked with gold.  It was not difficult to get her back into the pen.

I had a huge egg that would not fit into an egg carton.  I expect it was a double yolker and sure enough, it was.  I whisked it up and cooked it quickly in the microwave.  I added it to Millie's food.  She hadn't really eaten very much and this went down very well.

There was more barking during Sunday night.  As far as I could determine Millie was barking at coyote and other intruder activity.  This is her job.  The barking however is upsetting to the sheep.  I know they will become accustomed to this behaviour.

On Monday morning all seemed well.  I quickly did my morning routine.  I had to get some errands done.  On my return, as I drove up the road at about 11:15 I could see Millie in the field.  She was having a pee so I figured she had only just gotten out.  She must have jumped or climbed over that gate.  She was sniffing and checking the fence frequented by coyotes.  I ran from the car to Millie.  We talked, she was excited to be out and about.  She let me pet her but was cautious so as not to get 'caught'.

She headed to the field behind the house and I followed her.  I thought this was great since Millie was checking out all of the fence lines and I was interested in walking the fence lines with her.  And then she moved toward the electric fence.  "No!" I shouted "No, Millie".  She yelped!  A long yet sharp and loud yelp.  And she ran back up the pathway toward the Big Barn, down the hill on the other side and into the creek water.

I met hubby running from the house with a rifle, thinking we were under siege by coyotes.  "It's okay" I said.  "Everything is fine.  Millie must have jumped out.  Now she's gotten zapped by the fence and is freaked out".  He headed toward Millie while I went to the house to change into my barn clothes.

The two of us together put her off.  She thought we were going to wrestle her and drag her back to the pen in the barn.  With her nice demeanour I didn't realise just how upset she was from the zapping.  She wandered around the field and ended up in a large copse of shrubs.  There we could see her lie down.  We checked on her in a half hour, an hour, two hours...

In the late afternoon she could not be seen. Hubby went right into the copse and there was no Millie.  She was gone.  I drove around.  I went to her old farm.  I walked back near the cabin, across the middle field, to Table Rock and searched for her from the high vista.  There was no Millie.

When I put the sheep in the barn at dusk I called her some more.  I put her food outside the barn door under the light so we could possibly see her if she came for it. I was pretty sure she was gone.  Yet, I didn't want to give up.  With no collar and certainly no microchip, there wasn't much way to recover her...

At seven the next morning as I walked toward the gate to go up to the barn I looked across the field and there she was.  "Millie!"  I shouted several times.  I was so enthralled to see her.  I let out the sheep and fed the chickens, Dot and babies and then watched Millie.  She had not moved.  The sheep realised she was there and slowly turned back.  I headed out to her.

I was greeted with very submissive behaviour .  She laid on her back and turned her belly up to me.  We talked.  I rubbed her belly.  She got up and pressed herself into my legs.  She was wet from the rain overnight and now I was wet too.  Then she came with me toward the barn.  She didn't come all the way to the barn.  I went to the house and made her some scrambled eggs.  She ate all of the food.

Throughout the day hubby and I took turns and sometimes together, visited Millie.  She did come right to the barn.  She even went into the barn.  We have no intention of penning her up again.  Trust is hard won with these dogs.  She trusts me and I now trust that she will stay here.  The sheep are still so very timid of her and she senses that.  The most accepting of her are the lambs. 

At dusk when I went out to bring the sheep into the barn, Millie had already positioned herself on the other side of the field near the copse.  I went out to see her.  We talked.  We had pets.  I started to walk back to the barn.  I called her and she came along at a distance.  I put the sheep into the barn and she hung back but was very near.

When the sheep were locked up there arose an opportunity for Beau and Millie to have a face to face.  So, hubby allowed Beau into the pasture and he ran down the hill to Millie.  She snarled at him.  He did not boss her as he doesn't do that.  They were fine.

Millie moved out into the field where she could see things well.  And that's where she was when we went in from the veranda at dark.  We could hear her barking during the night and again early in the morning.  I took her breakfast and she came right to me and ate it up.

This morning, Wednesday, she is trying to be an integrated LGD.  She is moving to the flock.  They keep moving away from her.  They really are timid of her.  She wags her tail at them.  It's like she wants to be a sheep.  She moves slowly so as not to frighten them.  She seems to know.  I think there is much she knows and will teach us.

I am developing a plan for Millie.  It involves basic health care such as vaccinations, de-worming; grooming; and diet.  She will have to be spayed.  She has had two litters by a Doodle.  She needs to learn some basics such as minor work on a leash.  And then there is the car.  Much of the above can be accomplished with a vet visit here but the spaying likely will not.  We have time.  We have time to get to know each other, learn from each other and improve each others lives.

Millie is so very welcome here!  She is lovely in temperament and brings great peace of mind.