Addicted to the Mob!

Yes indeed, I cut my teeth on The Godfather! "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer".  When Winona Ryder became ill, I was so disappointed to see Director Coppola cast his inexperienced daughter in a major role for the third movie.... I digress.  After the Godfather trilogy, I continued with my mob obsession following the Sopranos and now the reality TV show Mob Wives.  Okay, not so much Mob Wives but still it is a fun brainless diversion to be had on occasion. That said, I have to confess...in keeping with all things MOB...I love working my girls on one.  A big mob of sheep just makes my day!

My mob love affair actually started with a birthday gift from Lana that included a sheep drive to a new field for grazing last August.  That was my first taste of the work and though Bella and I were not stellar, we held our own with encouragement from Lana.


Bella helping push Lana's mob to a new field for grazing 8/10

It's funny, when I started my journey with Snook 6 years ago....I would drive through the valley and think about pulling over, dropping the hot wire fence, sending my dog on a huge outrun to gather a big field of sheep, do a few sheds, call the dogs off, then up the fence and drive away...hopefully without a bullet whizzing by.  And here I am today, life imitating dream, and twice this past week, I did just that.  Dropped the fence, gathered a huge mob of sheep just as the Pratley was assembled, loaded trailers and then drove away.
Here is the field from my Friday gather....this field was along a very busy highway with two string electric fence so I opted for a well trained dog so I would not have any worries.  Bella was the dog for the day.

I sent to the left, with some heckling from my sheep friend, yet I had my reasons.  I was hoping that Bella would stay out and gather the whole field and not fall in on the first 40 as she had done in September.  She was looking good, and I had not walked the field so had no idea how deep it ran ....I thought I might be in trouble when I saw three sheep split the scene back up the field, leaving the large group Bella was bringing.  I lost sight of the entire flock due to terrain....so I started booking it up the field to see if help might be needed.  And what did I spy with my little eye....Miss Bella, cool as a cucumber, bringing the whole flock up the field to me. 

The lamb mob was pushed into the Pratley pen that fed a loading trailer that was filled with lambs.  What a treat it is to get the opportunity to work a big mob with a real job goal. My sheep friend said, "Looks like Miss Bella has learned to count"...and yes indeed she had not left a single lamb behind.

It is also fun to sort how life work impacts each of my dogs in their training.  Interesting to see how this little bit of mob work is deepening my Bella on her trial runs.  If I get the chance, I want to do a bit of shedding with the mob and get Bella comfortable coming in through big groups of sheep.  Makes me wonder if that might help with some of the shedding tension I am seeing. It is also nice to have "sheep friends" who are willing to give input on the work being done.  His eyes are seeing things that I have chosen to deny....or have not seen in myself and my dogs...... that little insight has been invaluable.

I'm looking forward to the next call and hoping the field is a little more secure with less traffic running by so I can use Gyp.  If not, perhaps Sally should have a go.  She is a little full of herself these days and I think a little real work with a mob of lambs might do her some good!  Oh the possibilities!  Life is GOOD!

With that in mind, I think I will go grab The Godfather and watch a bit tonight.  Tomorrow I will tell you exactly what has been keeping me from blogging........

Seize the Day!!!!