The only real herding that we have seen lately on the farm is Kupa herding the guineas. Watch this sequence.
This goes on for ages sometimes, 
He will walk around and around them keeping them in one place..
..or moving them across the field and then back. 
Kupa was disconcerted yesterday because one of the guineas is on the wrong side of the fence and he cannot get him back into the group.
Break away! And then he started all over again. You get the idea! I am thinking of training him to work sheep! Or maybe cats. 
Usually that is all the herding we ever see. But I was digging potatoes for dinner yesterday when TonTon came barreling around the house at top speed and ran right past me. Just roared past. No ball in his mouth. No begging to play. Hmm, I thought that is weird, then went back to digging up a dinners worth of my pitiful harvest of potatoes.
Around he came again, galloping at high speed, his tongue hanging out, this time he ran up, leapt past and appeared to pause in midair, catching my eye, feet peddling road runner style then hit the ground again and kept on running around the house and back out of sight.
Weird, I thought again and taking the basket of potatoes, went over to the frog garden to pull some beets for a salad.
I gathered enough beetroot then cut some greens and wandered with my basket around the front of the house, the dog galloped past me again and I watched him shoot at top speed from me straight to the open barn doors.
This time I had a clear view of the front of the barn. As Ton ran towards the doors out popped the Baby Bobby. He must have opened his interior gate and was wandering in and out of barn on the House Side. Bobby danced on his long legs out into the yard, saw the dog running at him, turned and high tailed it back inside. Ton braked, raising a cloud of dust, turned and ran back to me, around me and then ran back WITH me, as the Baby Bobby popped out again like a giant jack ‘n’ a box, to startle again at the sight of the dog and run back in again. I shut the Bobby into his side of the barn and double latched his gate. How long have you guys been doing that?, I asked Ton as he threw himself with relief onto the ground, his tongue in the dust. Good dog. TonTon may not be the best herder of sheep, but he does like everything to be in its proper place!
Good morning. Poor TonTon, he was desperately trying to get my attention, as well as stop the naughty calf from getting out onto the drive and into the bean fields! And I was ignoring him. Bad miss c.
The internet spat the dummy this morning so I had to call the nice man and he helped me reboot it. However I am very late at posting. I am so sorry. Now wea re all at sixes and sevens. The upside is that while waiting for the internet office to open I got piles of yard work and mowing done. So here it is 9am and I am quite delightfully ahead of myself!!
Oh and yesterday there was only the briefest of showers, someone dragged my rain cloud away to their farm!! But we did get some lovely puffy vacuous girly clouds! No strings on these baby clouds.
Have a lovely day.
celi
What happened on this day a year ago. Well nothing at all evidently! A nice quiet day here too. With some discussion about my plans for the blog.
The Kitchen's Garden 
71 responses to “TonTon saves the Baby Bobby Blanc”
So happy to see your post pop up on my WordPress reader! I’m glad the internet woes are over. Have a great day, Miss C!
For the moment laura, one thing none of us can depend on is the internet and milk pumps!! c
Himself has just dubbed himself a “gatero,” one who herds cats (aka back-up singers). Nice clouds.
gatero! fantastic, I will tell him!! c
Priceless! I could visualize it all so well, gave me a nice smile during a short break from work (writing….).
the poor dog was probably telling himself “what’s wrong with Mom, is she trying to kill me?” 😉
Don’t let your break be too long sally, the breaks from writing are my biggest writing problem!!
Ton Ton is a special dog – like the rest of your animals 😉
Morning mad, now I am surprised that london is so quiet, I thought it would be heaving with the Olympics and all! or will be big crowds come when the opening ceromony is over c!
It’s hard to say, but considering school’s out. I’m sure a lot of people have gone away to avoid the crowds. I also suspect that people will visit after the Olympics to avoid the crowds. I lived in Barcelona and Atlanta during the Olympics and it was quiet – IMHO this kind of spectacle is best seen on TV. Currently it looks like it will rain 😉
Oh dear..
It’s cloudy, but the ceremony is under way – I think they might be lucky 😉
Threw all its toys out of the pram?! Ah, the joys of technology and internet connections, just there to make our lives easier and happier and quicker. Yeah right. That was some seriously clever work from TonTon, I hope he gets extra rations tonight! I’ve never seen a peacock with a herding complex. Maybe you can make the most of it somehow! 🙂
that peacock is so odd, so often i turn around and there he is just watching me.. do you think he is herding me too?.. c
Probably, it’s to do with pecking order. I think you may find that Kupa is top dog. In his world at least! 😉
TonTon is such a good dog! Good to see you up and running..had us all worried…see how much we depend on your post… :>)
Thank goodness i could get into FB for a moment I know that there are a lot of people who read with their morning coffee.. and there is always the worry that something really serious does happen.. working here by myself all day.. but all good.. just the internet.. c
I think you need to train TonTon and Kupa to herd together! At any rate, Ton was definitely trying to tell you something important, and I’m glad he’s not stinky today…I’ll bet he is, too! Have a great day. Wish we could get some rain, too.
Oh I am so grateful for the lack of stink.. he had to stay in all night tho .. which reminds me i do need to go and fill up all those water containers .. it is just getting drier and drier.. morning betsy.. c
animals have many ways of signaling dangers. thank god for this!!
it is quite hard to believe sometimes, their instincts are often very good ones! morning terry.. fingers crossed for a good morning for Al.. c
thank you. so far so good!
Wow, what a good dog Ton is!
He is a classic! morning ted! c
TonTon the Wonder dog! I’d just mentioned to Zia that your post was late and we’re both glad to learn it was “only” an internet related thingy. I’ve got to work on her pc connection; she’s been unable to send an email for weeks. No weather report today, Celi. I’m just enjoying the cool temps and don’t need to know anything else. Have a great day!
Zia and i could sit down for a good moan about the internet.. i hope you can work hers out though, not being able to send an email must annoying.. It is cooler here though, high 80’s.. feels like heaven! c
will i ever learn to listen to my animals? everytime i notice the same kind of behavior ton exhibited, one of my dogs is trying to tell me something. well, not like teddy would ever jump in the air but she sure acts differently. just yesterday i went running when i heard her “alarm” call. she was barking ar a squirrel on the side of the house. those little beasties can site 5 feet away from her in the back gardens and she doesn’t even look at them. this squirrel was not in it’s right place. as soon as it went back to the back gardens, teddy quit barking.
Oh teddy, he is such a cute fluffy thing, maybe it is a dog thing, to have all animals in their proper places!! c
Good job TonTon! It’s comforting to know he’s ‘the eyes in the back of your head’
Well he got my attention in the end, they could not have kept that up much longer! morning G’mom.. c
Love, love, love Border Collies, and cats, and guineas and peacocks. And clouds.
I was quite sad this morning to see that your daily post was missing! I believe it’s become kind of like a relaxing, morning cup of coffee for me. So happy that you were able to get the internet back up and running.
TonTon should get the “Coolest Dog on Earth” medal. What an amazing pup he is.
Have a lovely day ~ April
Isn;t it funny, my day has been all discombobulated because I could not get the page out at the right time.. and now it is after lunch time already!! you have a lovely day too april.. c
Well done, TonTon! And Kupa looks really in his element :).
Morning Ksenia.. i am still envious of you finding some feijoas! c
I wish I was able to get more! I only grabbed a few!