Teaching Sheep to Fly… Neil Ross’s Border Collies in the Scottish Highlands Can Almost Do That!

/ Curt Mekemson
It looked like this black-faced sheep in the Scottish Highlands had learned how to fly when escaping from a border collie. Maybe not, but it was a one heck of a leap!

Peggy and I have now returned from our two month exploration of Greece, the Scottish Highlands and Ireland. I’ll be blogging about the experience over the next couple of months, focusing on highlights.

One of the highlights of our CIE Travel Company bus tour of the Scottish Highlands with our grandson Cody was stopping at Neil Ross’s 11,000 acre Leault sheep farm in Kincraig, Scotland. (It’s not far from Loch Ness where we went in search of the legendary Nessie.) Neal and his border collies put on a sheep dog demonstration for us that was incredible.

The first border collies were bred on the border between Scotland and England, thus the name. Their ancient ancestors were Viking and Roman herding dogs. Their specific ancestor traces back to a dog know as Old Hemp born in 1893. His herding instincts were so highly developed that sheep herders the world over wanted pups from him. It’s said that he produced over 200— and I assume that he was quite happy to do so. Among the qualities that Old Hemp showed were high intelligence and the ability to manage large flocks over long distances using independent judgement. Plus a real love for his master and a strong desire to please. The latter made him easy to train and eager to carry out his responsibilities.

Sheep herders were also impressed with the fact that Old Hemp was less physical and more mental in his herding technique: Instead of biting the sheep, he gave them ‘the look,’ translated ‘do it or else.’ The bite was implied. I understand the look. Peggy was the principal of an elementary school with over 1000 students from 18 different countries and was a master of the look. She didn’t have to use it often, but when she did, the kids were instantly on their best behavior. So am I.

Possibly the most important factor is the herding instinct, which is the result of hundreds, if not thousands, of years of herding. Sheep and cattle dogs love to herd. It is not a chore; it’s a way of life. When Ross brought his dogs out for the demonstration, they were almost shaking in their eagerness to be turned loose. When Cody was young, his dad had bought a pair of Austrailian cattle dogs. They were constantly trying to herd him and his brother Ethan. They even tried to herd me, but we had a discussion about it. In addition to sheep and cattle, border collies have also been used in herding poultry, pigs and even ostriches!

Neil uses both voice commands and whistles to let his dogs know what he wants them to do. If you ever watched the movie Babe where the pig ends up herding the sheep, Neil provided the whistle commands used with the sheep dogs in the movie. It’s fascinating to watch how Neil and the sheep dogs work together. His first command was to go out into the woods and bring the sheep into the field where the demonstration was to take place. At one point he directed his sheep dogs to separate out some sheep that belonged to a neighbor from his herd, and they did it.

Following are photos that Peggy and I took to give you something of a feel for the sheepdog demonstration. We will apply our own interpretation as to what the border collies were up to…

The collies began their work by gathering the sheep together out in the woods on Neil’s ranch. The video at the end shows the effort.
The dogs then brought the sheep into the open area in front of Neil’s house where they demonstrated their ability to control them. Our interpretation here was that the collie that you see in the foreground was staring at the sheep and informing them, ‘You are going in the wrong direction.”
“That’s better.”
“Now run. It is okay to wag your tails.” We watched as the border collies worked the sheep back and forth across the field at Neil’s commands.
“Now, line up in groups of 2-4 and trot across the yard for a group photo.” One dog, seen next to the sheep here, is herding. Another dog stands off in the distance, ready to run in and help if needed. The dogs worked in tandem with two other collies on the field.
“Good sheep.” We dutifully took photos. (All of the wool on the ground suggested to Peggy and me that the sheep were shedding. Either that or it was left over from sheep shearing and had been blown across the field.)
This photo provides an idea of the number of sheep the dogs were working at the time. It’s just a small portion of the 2500 sheep on the farm.
The whole time the dogs worked, Neil was giving them voice and whistle instructions.
He also demonstrated the fine art of sheep shearing while three of his dogs looked on. Maybe they were there to assure the sheep’s good behavior.
Neil also introduced us to a pair of lambs.
And a calf.
One of the lambs stuck its nose out through the fence, asking to be let out. Neil let all three out where members of our tour group fed them milk with baby bottles.
The absolute stars of the show were the three border collie puppies that were brought over to meet the tour group.
Cody fell in love— and was threatening to steal one.
I could hardly blame him.
Peggy joined Cody for a photo op.
A large yawn announced that the puppy had decided that taking a nap in Cody’s arms seemed like a nice thing to do. Or was it saying, “Ah want tae learn hoo tae mak sheep flee, jist like mammy and daddy.” With a proper Scottish accent, of course.
Nope, it was sleep.

This video below shows the dogs bringing in the sheep from the forest to the open field under Neil’s directions. One of other dogs wants to join the fun but is limping. Neil directs it down to the open field to hold the sheep when they arrive. You can see the dogs working in the background. Note how fast they run. A few of the sheep slide off to the side. You can hear Neil telling the dogs “Say goodby, say goodby. Clicking on the photo will start it running.

My next post on Tuesday will take you back to the book I am blogging, UT-OH, and the beginning of my time at UC Berkeley where I was a student when a nation-wide effort was underway to involve students in the civil-rights movement. I ended up giving speeches from the Dean’s desk and sitting on the floor of the Administration building singing We Shall Overcome with Joan Baez.

3 thoughts on “Teaching Sheep to Fly… Neil Ross’s Border Collies in the Scottish Highlands Can Almost Do That!”

  1. Many years ago, we passed a sign for the National Sheep Dog Trials. I believe it was in Alabama and I thought I would see them sometime – but never did. They are in California this year, and I won’t make it again. But someday?

    Reply

      • Over the years, we have seen a couple demonstrations with dogs and shearing. Alie once held a lamb less than an hour old. Evidently, skilled sheep shearers are in high demand; the son of a friend in Ireland travels the entire world moving from one country to another to shear sheep and has done so for decades.

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