I had 6 goats and a sheep, Ma, the Border Leicester, who all needed shearing. I am so done with doing it myself. It usually takes me at least 1 hour per animal and that makes the shearing job, take all day. I can't struggle with goats and sheep all day any more, as I would get too tired after several hours. So the job goes to Jose, a local sheep shearer. I was prepared for him when he showed up. I had decided that I could not deal with three dogs while holding goats for Jose to shear. Tam and Decker were tied in the barn aisle, out of the way. I would use Kate as she is the most obedient dog of the three and would need the least of my attention. 

We sheared them in the barn aisle, so all of the dogs got to watch. How fun for them! Decker was very excited. I must have told him 20 times to either lay down or sit and shush. After about 45 minutes, he finally was quieter and settled some. I had told Jose earlier, that he was human aggressive and to just not pay any attention to him. After a while, Jose was even helping me to keep him quiet. Good for Decker's mind. Jose is not afraid of dogs, and Decker could sense that as he acted fine around him and listened to him like he was a pack leader.

After the shearing was completed, I released Decker and Tam and they all ran around excited. Decker was curious about Jose's dog in the pick up and went to greet her.

After Jose left, all of the dogs came in the house and were quiet for several hours. I guess watching goats and sheep is a lot like watching sheepdog herding trials, the dogs watching "are there" correcting the animals in their minds. This is a total workout for them. Most of the time when we go to sheepdog herding trials, the girls watch all day, they only get to work once, for 10 minutes. They get potty breaks and a lunch break, but all-in-all, they just watch all day. When the trial is finished for the day, they are simply exhausted! In their minds, they worked those sheep the entire day!