[Jacob-list] still waters

[Linda Bjarkman]

Sort of on the same topic of strange stories and beliefs -

I received an email yesterday asking

>If a shepherd has a sheep which continuously and persistently wanders away
>from the flock, will the shepherd break one of the sheep's legs in order to
>force it to bond with the shepherd due to the constant care the shepherd
>will then have to provide the injured sheep?

The woman said they were having a discussion (email was a college address) and 
someone had said that shepherds did that.  It got more involved - someone said that 
in ancient times they did it, even though they might not do it now.

I told her that sheep bond better when they are not in pain and that I felt that, 
not even considering the inhumanity of it, it was economically stupid.  While 
tending the broken legged sheep, the others run away.  The broken legged sheep was 
certainly unlikely to survive in ancient times.  This was perhaps the oddest 
question I've been asked about sheep.

Linda
Bonding to her sheep with Ritz crackers, not bone crackers.

On Fri, 16 May 2003 07:19:25 -0400, Betty Berlenbach wrote:
>All this talk of still waters and swimming sheep  reminds me that I also know
>it is commonly thought that cats hate water and  don't swim.  When I was
>growing up we had an old tiger alley cat gotten as  a kitten, who swam with us
>every day and seemed to enjoy it.
>
>Which is to say, there's genetics and environment,  hey?  There's rules and
>exceptions.  No rule is so strictly adhered to  that once in a while a fluke
>doesn't happen.  I have a friend with  shetlands who has one sheep which looks
>forward to her daily swim with the  shepherd in their pond.  Ya' gotta' love
>it.
>
>My father used to say there's no such thing as  "always" or "never"; wise
>words for all of us, I'd  say.
>

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