Ever seen a sheep herder with no sheep?
Well, he has become a chicken herder!
His name is Cloud and his natural instinct as a sheepdog is to herd something. There are no sheep on the apple farm here and I am told that every day Cloud picks a chicken from the group to herd around the grounds.
We stood watching his guiding skills for about an hour and it was amazing to see his natural instincts at work.
Let me show you!
Nimble of foot, Cloud selected the grey rooster for the day and impressed us with his guiding skills.
Not once did he bark, but in silence he performed his perceived herding duties!
Cloud also doesn't bite the chickens, but when up close he bumps them with his head in the direction that he wants them to go!
Almost like he is saying; "No, no not this way, go the other way"
Some spectators seemed to find Cloud's herding show boring!
And so they decided to come down to try and distract Cloud in his herding efforts.
But as you can see, Cloud stuck to his choice of herding the grey rooster and the spectators had to scatter!
Their owner manages some cottages on the farm that are used as tourist accommodation and he has two of these sheepdogs. Cloud is the youngster and the older one is more relaxed. Rest assured that Cloud picks a different rooster every day and if Cloud is not running about on the farm, he is herding chickens.
It was our first time to see something like this and it confirms my theory that all animals are born with a set of hunting and defense skills in their genes. Be it flight, or attack!
Thank you for visiting a post by @papilloncharity
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Hahah cool to see! It is really in their nature to herd. I didnt know that to be honest, I thought it was just a away of training these animals
Nature vs nurture. Those chickens are looking medium resassured with all this doggo activity going on there hahaha
Contant & Photograph was really good NICE JOB BRO @papilloncharity
@binance-trade thank you for the kind comment! Blessings!
Wonderful, welcome to join the #dailypetphotography contest😎😎
Funny pictures!
Thank you!
I had a border collie that looked just like Coud nearly 40 years ago. That herding instinct is strong! Children, cars, anything that moves is fair game!
@melinda010100 He is such a little character Lady Melinda and today it was the noisy red rooster's turn to be guided around! But this one is clever and he jumped up into a tree to escape Cloud! Blessings!
Too bad you can't give him three sheep!😃 The chickens would be grateful!
Sure great to watch them in action, be careful he doesn't decide to turn an eye onto herding you around the farm Stephen :)
One thing for sure, you will be up bright and early each day with the roosters call.....
@joanstewart for some reason they have decided to build the tractor store right next to our bedroom Lady Joan! No rooster can compare to the sound of a very early tractor start-up. Fortunately I am an early riser. Cloud and Marian have become big buddies, as he likes his stomach scratched and I am sure that he is jealous of me. Maybe he thinks Marian scratches my stomach all day. I will have to sit him down for a friendly chat one of these days Lol. Blessings! @joanstewart
Farm life always has you up early, a noisy tractor would drive one crazy, living with what surrounds us we do adjust.
You will most definitely have to have a heart to heart with Cloud soon...