Iris Maybelle McGillicutty

Iris Maybelle doesn't get much blog time, mostly because she's far too busy for any silly computer stuff.

Her most important job is as a therapy dog. She used to go make rounds at a couple of nursing homes and was very popular. In farming communities such as ours, almost everyone of that generation grew up on a farm...with a Border Collie. She'd sit by their bed and listen to all sorts of stories about dogs they'd had back when "everyone around here had some sheep".

Now, other than an occasional public appearance, she mostly just provides Border Collie therapy to us and anyone who visits the farm. Even if you didn't know you needed some therapy, she provides it. And it's hard to beat good Border Collie therapy.

Her other main job is farm security. She's the farm police. She keeps an eye on the front, the road, Stella's driveway. If she sees a threat, she sounds the alarm and Hank comes running from the back. They make a great team and Hank would love to be more than work associates. He likes to try to get her to play with him, but she's too busy for any silly dog games.

Iris's part time job is sheep herding. While sheep herding sometimes gets trumped by "road security", we can't really fault her. She was a rescue dog, picked up off a nearby highway. Her sheep skills are just what she instinctively knows and a little of what we've been able to encourage.

She gets lots of practice helping me herd everyone back to the barn when I've accidentally left a gate open, but her favorite job is keeping the sheep in check when I purposely leave a door or gate open when I'm going back and forth, setting out hay.



This is her "YOU STAY IN THERE AND DON'T TRY TO BUM RUSH THIS GATE!!!" face. And it works.

Her least favorite job is babysitting bottle lambs, but we aren't going to talk about that because too much talk about bottle lambs...makes me want a bottle lamb and it's getting dangerously close to that time of year lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala ;-).