Gyp is a Lot Like Me

Spring has sprung here in the valley; don't like the weather?  Wait an hour and you'll get something different.  Yesterday we had hail, rain, wind, and a sprinkling of sunshine....today, I would like an extra scoop of the sun please, hold the wind, hail, and rain.

I've started my annual trek to the neighbors....driving the moms and babies down a 1/4 mile long lane to graze all day long , then turn around and drive them home to their protector for the night.  I'm not sure if I took llama Penny down to the neighbors with the sheep, that I could ever get her back.  It is a paradise down there....grass so tall that when the lambs lay down, all you see are ear tops.  Each trip, a different dog is designated chore dog.  This year, I have three to pick from....each bringing their own strengths to the job.  Me, I am still working at developing a strong set of observation muscles, so I watch intently.  I watch the dog's method, the sheep's response, the effectiveness of the application, and asses if there might be a way for me to functionally help the dog be the all time best she can be. 

Yesterday my vanilla ice cream Gyp was dog of the drive home.  She, with her quiet style, just got the job done.  I watched as she sorted who needed the push and who she could just leave alone; knowing those ewes and babies would come along if the leaders kept to the task.  The group of 35 being held together, no stringing out laterally, and all moving along at a nice pace. Gyp working, deep in thought, not a lick of tension but certainly a good method, while I said little. The ewe that can turn on Nell's intense eye, calmly moves off Gyp with no issue. My Gyp, indeed she just gets the job done.

I showed Gyp to a good friend a few months ago. He asked me what I thought.....I confessed, I really like her but don't know what to think. She is so different from any dog I have ever owned.  At a recent lesson, I was cross driving with her.  I told my clinician, "it does not look like she really has them" but of course when I flanked her, the sheep changed their line proving Gyp was in charge.  She is a mysterious fascination to me.  I study runs of dogs I feel are "Gyp like".  I talk to handlers that run dogs like her.  I work her and watch intently......I've give her as much real work as I can. I'm up for the task of learning about Gyp.  All the while, Gyp is teaching me so much about myself!

I was listening to an interview with Sally Hogshead this morning.  Her message was about being ourselves to the fullest and best the self can be. Instead of changing ourselves to "fit", she encourages us to nurture and grow our strengths.  "We want so much to be liked that we boil ourselves down to this grey watery mush." Indeed, Margaret Thatcher said something very similar years ago, "If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time and you would achieve nothing." -- May 3, 1989, commenting on her 10th anniversary as prime minister

Here life imitates sheepdogs.....my Gyp is special in her own right.  If I tried to make her something she is not, attempt to change her so other's will like her,  the shame would be on me.  My job is to help her become all that she can be, with her own style and method.  My job is to learn to run her, as a mentor told me, "she has a lot to teach you, if you are willing to except the challenge."   No grey watery mush that can achieve nothing....instead a beautiful working border collie that might not take critic's breath away but can do a day's work.  Now that I think on it, Gyp really is not vanilla ice cream....she is more Heath Bar ice cream.  Not everyone is going to love her, but those who do will really love her!

Gyp is a lot like me.......

Seize the Day!