Miss Nellie

Miss Nellie came to us from a local Dorper Breeder at about 4 weeks of age.

Straight off the paddock and into a dog crate to bring home.

A script had come in that required a sheep, she did not have to do much but needed to be social, safe and able to be picked up and handled.

Walk on a lead and not react around the equipment on a set.

No much to ask hey? From a lamb that only 2 days previous had been a feral little bugger running the paddocks.

Miss Nellie within few hours of putting that collar on and being handled decided she liked living this side of the vally. The grass was green and the pellet bin never ran out. She imprinted so well and wanted to be with us all the time. She gardened with me, came in the house for lunch and then cushed down and slept on the dog mat. Hence Young Nellie never did go back to the sheep paddocks, she is a permanent resident here.

Emmy and Juniour just seemed to shrug in their own canine way and just accepted Nellie into the family. The ducks however do not like her rampaging ways and refuse to share the yard with her until she is locked up for the night.

Nellie has also been known to put her head down and run at chooks, bopping them out of her way.

Much to the breeders disgust I do refer to Nellie as a very Goaty kind of sheep, her intelligence is not what I would usually associate with a sheep and her need for engagement is very high.

Nellies first day on set showed me that she has the head for this kind of work. I got her out of the crate after travelling 3.5 hours down to the big city, clipped on the dog lead and walked her straight in. She trotted past all the people, equipment, cables etc and was happy to be patted and handled by anybody. Any down time was spent nibbling at the grass and weeds or sitting on somebodies lap for a photo session.

She became the therapy sheep, everybody wanted to touch the fleece and spend some time with her. Thank you to the crew for being so kind, her first job was made very easy due to this.