Quote: Lol, thanks. This particular dog is inexplicably stupid. I don't like to apply that term to any animal but he often earns it. Both his parents are near geniuses but the sheep are smarter than their son. Go figure.
Lucy's been orphaned since one week old, and has not been able to interact with anything even vaguely like her own kind ever since. This is a first for her and she's over a year old now so her concept of what a flock is has set in her mind. She still thinks she belongs with me.
Quote:
She doesn't actually smell of lanolin at all, not to me anyway. I remember how much my first ram and ewe lambs smelt of it. This one's been washed in some detergent, I'd guess by the state of her wool, and raised in something approximating a mud yard, also guessing by the state of her health and her wool. I'd guess the dog must be able to smell some lanolin on her but he's a sight hound not a scent hound.
I tried the old trusty trick of introducing them via smell, her smell on my hand brought to him, and his smell on my hand brought to her... It's always worked before. But he didn't smell my hand at all. Didn't appear to notice anything! She did; she smelt my hand thoroughly. I've also tried introducing him to some new family dogs via the hand trick and he also utterly failed to take notice. This has never happened with any other dog I've had. They've always smelled the hand with great interest, and it's helped make peaceful introductions that way. I suspect he has a faulty sense of smell, because when introducing animals, I rub their bellies, face, etc to get a good amount of their general smell on me, to make a decent 'by proxy' introduction, and the two dogs I introduced him to the smell signatures of recently were both female, one pregnant and the other probably in heat. No reaction whatsoever from him. He's not neutered either.
Normally I'd agree with you, that the dog is acting on instinct because it sees a weakly animal, but in his case he was raised with a weakly lamb and a very ill, crippled cat, without any negative reactions at all, and his reaction towards this new lamb is the exact same as it is for any animals that he's unfamiliar with. If it runs, he runs, that's all. As soon as she stops, he stops. As soon as she starts, he starts. The same goes for all moving objects. He chases thoughtlessly.
It doesn't matter if it's a single bird in the distance flying a hundred meters high off over the ocean... This dog will chase the bird till he drowns unless you catch him first; literally, you will see his head sinking below the water as he continues the hunt he cannot succeed in. It's a mental glitch he got from his mother's side. They gallop off into the sunset, deaf to all commands to return, when they've decided to chase something. This is despite both of them being trained and usually being far more reliable. Not great stock, very self-willed, nothing like the dingo mixes I've had which were far more inclined to listen and obey than these collie/cattledog mixed mongrels. The wild born dingo mix father obeyed me about leaving the damaged orphan lamb alone, but the collie cattledog mix mother snuck in a few test bites whenever someone's back was turned yet acted as good as gold when anyone was looking. The son takes after the mother, more's the pity. Anyway, he's coming along well enough with training, I think he'll be ok, all going well.
About the Nutri Drench, I'd rather use more natural methods than drenching her without an emergency need, but I will look into it to see what's in it, so thanks for the suggestion. I may end up using it or something equivalent if she doesn't pick up soon enough. She's eating kelp and a mineral lick, as well as some lucerne hay and she's on a good paddock now, and when she's adjusted more I intend to add more to her diet. She's on a vitamin C supplement because I removed a paralysis tick off her ear and she has wobbly hind legs. Vit C is generally the single thing best used to treat paralysis tick poisoning in my experience, plus it helps with pretty much everything. I don't think there is any one specific thing wrong with her as much as a lifetime of sub par nutrition. Could be wrong. Hope not. Will look into drenches anyway, it was on my 'to-do list' as an emergency back up anyway.
Her body's not grown much at all, her legs are still in almost normal proportion. She's not a large sheep on tiny legs, she's a tiny sheep on tinier legs, still with a good amount of 'ground clearance' and very agile. More like a miniature adult sheep really, not an adult on an infant's legs. She sure can jump and she runs fine. She's not like your usual dwarf, she's more severe than that, hence my worry that it may be fatal. But she's only young, we'll see how it goes. Everything's stunted on her, just her head and body are slightly less stunted.
Quote:
Very keen to see the results! I'm keen to add some Dorpers to my menagerie in the future.
