Release the quacken!
That’s not my joke, that’s his joke. The man who owns these ducks.
The summer fête season is upon us. This was taken at the first one in our annual calendar, in fact. Most of them have a show ring and various entertainments, and trained herd dogs are a regular feature.
This guy was good. He had an experienced dog (seven years in training) and a rescue dog (less than a year) and he was using them to herd a dozen ducks through a series of ramps and obstacle courses.
The new dog was very good, bless her heart. Not as good as the old hand but holding her own. The trainer said the experienced dog thinks nothing of rounding up a flock of 500 sheep all by himself.
He had some interesting observations. Like, if your dog runs off and you yell at him when he comes back, he’ll think you didn’t want him to come back and eventually he’ll run away for good. Also, he never trains dogs with food rewards. He doesn’t want them doing their job for pay, he wants them to work out of pride and a place in the pack. He’s obviously put a lot of thought into this.
Anyway, it’s Summer — stand by for livestock posts!
Posted: June 9th, 2015 under animals, birds, britain, personal.
Comments: 11
Comments
Comment from QuasiModo
Time: June 9, 2015, 9:57 pm
Duckies! My sister used to keep ducks…poor things got picked off one by one.
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: June 9, 2015, 10:31 pm
Prolly badgers.
Quite partial to ducks, we are…
Comment from mojo
Time: June 9, 2015, 11:16 pm
“Christmas is carnage!”
Comment from Nina
Time: June 9, 2015, 11:34 pm
The entertainments we suburban folk miss entirely!
Comment from Mr. Dave
Time: June 10, 2015, 2:37 am
Dem some scrawny ducks. Dogs must herd them all the time. Take a June bug break occasionally.
Comment from catnip
Time: June 10, 2015, 6:02 am
They look like Indian Runner ducks. Nice to keep because they can’t fly, and lay lots of eggs.
Comment from Timbo
Time: June 10, 2015, 1:26 pm
What I want to know is how the dog managed to handcuff them first.
Comment from Statler & Waldorf
Time: June 10, 2015, 2:54 pm
The miraculous output of the dog trainer comes from reading a TSA training manual and doing everything in reverse.
Comment from scottthebadger
Time: June 10, 2015, 11:55 pm
Yep, a Badger with an Remington 870 will dine on ducks.
Comment from Davem123
Time: June 11, 2015, 2:03 am
Clearly the dog is a racist, as the ducks appear to be virtually all black or mixed-race. The dog trainer needs to suspend the dog without pay until a grand jury can be seated to review the criminal actions of the canine in question.
Comment from BJM
Time: June 11, 2015, 9:02 pm
The neighbors pond is in a paddock next to my veggie garden. They had a small flock of mixed breed ducks to keep an aging mare company. Predators slowly picked them off until they added six geese.
The head Goose is very unhappy about me working in my garden and kicks up a ruckus that results in a massive goose charge with a gaggle of confused ducks bringing up the rear. It’s very entertaining what with the ducks silly walking and all. Then I give them all zucchini or whatever is rampant that day.
Such are the simple joys of country life.
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