mist’s puppies

If you watched the final episode of ‘Sheepdog tales’ last Sunday morning on Channel Five, you’ll know that Mist had a litter of puppies earlier this year. We had to keep them a secret so as not to spoil the surprise for the telly, but now that the episode has been broadcast we can let the cat out of the bag (or the puppies out of the kennel!)

The puppies were born on March 6th, there were 4 girls in the litter (we only showed 3 on the telly, just so as the naming of the pups didn’t last too long) they are absolutely tiny when they are first born

Although their Dad is Eddie (she was the only husband that Mist was interested in) one of them looks the exact image of their grandfather Jake. They spent the first few weeks of their lives in the laundry room. Mist was a good Mum, but like most working sheepdogs she was itching to get back to work after a week of being a Mother.

Pups grow very quickly and by the time they are eight weeks old they are no longer dependent on their mother at all. One by one they left to go to other farms to start training as sheepdogs. At such an early age there is no way of telling which will make the best sheepdog, so the first three farmers that bought them chose them on appearance, leaving just one behind……. the Jake look alike (who we were calling ‘baby Jake’ or ‘Jackie’!!)

For a couple of weeks she stayed around the house, and played in the yard, but at 14 weeks old my son Nick (11) decided to see if she was interested in sheep, and for the next three nights he took her to the training paddock on his own. He reported back that she was doing all the things that I’d most want to hear! On the fourth evening I thought that I’d better have a look for myself, and was amazed to see what she was able to do.

Since then she’s been allowed to work for a few minutes 2 or 3 times a week. However, she can no longer be left free around the yard as she heads straight for the training paddock and rounds up the sheep.

We’ve now given her a proper sheepdog name ‘Dart’ and I’ve been so pleased with her work that at the first display last night, she was allowed to take a small part, accompanied by her father, Eddie and of course with Nick on hand to help catch her.