I have been very busy making and shipping
Wee Little Sheep *. Often , while making the little sheep I place them around my little shepherd boy. This little flock seemed to be gathered around him as if they love him and my little shepherd seems sad to see them go.
Now I know neither the little sheep or the little shepherd are living beings, but for some reason this gathering seemed very real and the little flock was packaged and sent off to new homes throughout the U.S. shortly after I snapped the pictures. Sometimes I am surprised by the emotions inanimate objects evoke and this makes me glad I am making more sheep for my shepherd. Hmm... I think I need to get outside with my real flock and my real shepherd.
Yes, I do have a real shepherd, and her name is Whimsy. She is my German Shepherd puppy, now 5 months old. Yes indeed, I am allowing her to help me with my sheep and after the holidays intend to take her to sheep herding training. I think she is a natural, but since I have never before had a herding dog , what would I know ?
Whimsy follows me into the sheep pens as I feed and tend my sheep. Here she is facing down a more aggressive ewe lamb in my lamb pen. Thus far, Whimsy has behaved herself quite well, and when she gets too excited I call her away from the sheep or command her to "SIT!" and she obeys. She is sleeping by my feet as I write this post. She & I are becoming very good friends and I hope she will be a companion to my husband & I for many years, and a good sheep dog too. ( The reddish blob in the picture is our Vizsla who is more interested in the alfalfa pellets that dropped from the feed bucket )
"Shepherd :to tend as a shepherd; to gather, guard, herd, lead, or drive sheep, as a shepherd. " Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
"Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arms He will gather the lambs, and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes. " Isaiah 40:11
"I am the good shepherd ; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." John 10:14,15
