Originally Posted by Changes

There is no way that the sheep would be kept safe without the dogs, they will find abandoned lambs in the snow, find ewes that are in trouble during lambing, fetch the sheep from a mountain in the winter so that they are all checked and fed, find lost or ill sheep that are hidden in the bracken, find sheep that are stuck in ditches or bogs, will find lambs that are fading due to a ewe having mastitis, that is just the tip of the iceburg, the sheep on the mountains are checked twice a day throughout the winter months each individual check would take three or four days to carry out without the dogs -

The best shepherd I ever worked with was Ben he saved more lambs and sheep than any other dog I have ever met, he would stand on his back legs in snow drifts that would have covered him and bark until we came - there at his feet would be a lamb that was fading and facing certain death had he not found it, there is no way any of us would have reached that lamb in time to save it, we possibly wouldn't have ever found it - (by the way I carried that lamb off the mountain in my coat and kept it warm all the way back to the lower farm where I bottle fed it every two hours until it was strong again)