Night Duties

Each night, I have a dog put the chicken and ducks away. If I don't then the local Bald Eagles pay us a visit and enjoy their "Take out dinner"

Usually, I use Tess. Sometimes I use Lucy. Nan really tries to help but her tail is in the air like a Flag at the Fourth of July Parade and she barks her head off, while following Tess. She doesn't see the chickens or ducks but does the flanks. It is quite amusing to see such a top rated Open dog, run around like a foolish puppy. Tess doesn't seem to mind that she has a partner. Nan thinks it is pure entertainment.

Tonight Nan was busy up at the house with Getty, no doubt helping him cook dinner. Therefore, the nightly duties fell squarely on Tess's broad shoulders. That's OK as Tess have very broad shoulders as she carried me all this years on the trial field.

Tess making sure Mr Magoo goes into the pen. Mr Magoo grew up here and has all the dogs afraid of him except for Tess. When the dogs were puppies, he made a point of pecking their noses when they ran up to him and since then, the dogs give him a wide berth. He tried to peck Tess's nose once so she grabbed his beak and held on and then let him go. Ever since then, he has been very respectful of Tess. See how she is taking the pressure off Mr Magoo.

Mr Magoo is a very large Muscovy male duck. He is the boss of all the ducks.

A close up of Tess doing a slow walk up. She is very patient.

Now she is bringing in the chicken from the other side of the coop. She goes very slow to put them away for the night. Since chickens are not the brightest bulb in the light socket, she must go very slow and work with precise pressure. She is very good at herding chickens.

OK, they are almost in including Mr Magoo. One last tuck and they will be all put away for the night. There are about 20 chickens and 10 ducks.


At the mouth of the coop and almost done for the night. Tess is an excellent penning dog.

One hen thought she was going to sneak out but she shut that route off. See how calm the chickens are and how steady Tess is in the mouth of the coop. She is done for the night.

Rigby is watching this with no interest. He is apparently bored by the fact that Tess is on night duties.