It’s not entirely clear who’s trying to herd who in this video.
A couple of years ago, Nelson, a Norfolk terrier mix, was on duty at a farm in East Sussex, U.K., tasked with keeping about a dozen sheep in line. That’s what herding dogs are supposed to excel at, right? But what actually happened in this field is just one example of why Nelson’s owner is calling him the “world’s worst sheepdog.â€
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Excuse me? Let’s talk after you try rounding up a dozen sheep that outweigh you by a ton or two. It’s not as easy as it looks.
Everything goes according to plan in the beginning, as Nelson confidently circles the herd, pulling them together into a tight huddle like he’s just thrown a lasso around the entire lot.
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Unfortunately, things go downhill pretty quickly after that when one sheep decides to break rank and take off after him.
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The others immediately follow suit, maybe thinking Nelson is the stray sheep who needs to be brought back into line.
Whatever’s going on here, poor Nelson becomes the unwitting trailblazer, leading the flock from one end of the field to the other with a few close at his heels.
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Look closely at the far end of the field and you’ll see a couple strays hanging off in the sidelines back there. They want nothing to do with this spectacle themselves, but they’re more than happy to watch, purely for the entertainment value.
The video’s been viewed hundreds of thousands of times since it was posted back in the fall of 2016, and many have jumped to poor Nelson’s defense, saying he was just “pioneering a new kind of shepherding” wherein the sheep chase the dog.
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Whatever the objective, it’s pretty much irrelevant whether Nelson met it. We’re with the wayward sheep at the back of the field on this one.
So sit back, click the video below, and remember to share if it made you laugh!
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