Well, he has become a chicken herder!
His name is Cloud and his natural instinct as a sheepdog is to herd something. There are no sheep on the apple farm here and I am told that every day Cloud picks a chicken from the group to herd around the grounds.
We stood watching his guiding skills for about an hour and it was amazing to see his natural instincts at work.
Let me show you!
Nimble of foot, Cloud selected the grey rooster for the day and impressed us with his guiding skills.
Not once did he bark, but in silence he performed his perceived herding duties!
Cloud also doesn't bite the chickens, but when up close he bumps them with his head in the direction that he wants them to go!
Almost like he is saying; "No, no not this way, go the other way"
Some spectators seemed to find Cloud's herding show boring!
And so they decided to come down to try and distract Cloud in his herding efforts.
But as you can see, Cloud stuck to his choice of herding the grey rooster and the spectators had to scatter!
Their owner manages some cottages on the farm that are used as tourist accommodation and he has two of these sheepdogs. Cloud is the youngster and the older one is more relaxed. Rest assured that Cloud picks a different rooster every day and if Cloud is not running about on the farm, he is herding chickens.
It was our first time to see something like this and it confirms my theory that all animals are born with a set of hunting and defense skills in their genes. Be it flight, or attack!
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