Hiding or Herding?

Being a herding dog is like being an electrician. Give me the right tools, some wire, a power source and I can make just about anything happen. For herding dogs, and especially our pup Susu, the tools are herd animals like sheep or cattle and even chickens! Their natural instinct is to come together, and if you separate one from the group it will try to get back to the herd. Pigs, however, are like handing an electrician a laptop and asking them to write code for a new app . . . electricity is involved, but the skills don’t really apply.

Pigs are social animals, they like being in a group, but they are also individuals. Susu’s natural instincts rely on the pattern that a single animal will tend back towards the group. But that pattern is weak in pigs, and especially in our very social, and now big and heavy pigs. A dog’s “eye” is a critical first tool for moving animals. It’s that look that says I’m a hunter and you’re the prey, and I’m looking at you sorta hungry so you better move along. As the pigs have gotten bigger, that look means less and less, and this week the pigs are more interested in playing with Susu than running away from him.

When a pile of bedding hay was plopped down on top of Susu he enjoyed peeking out and watching the pigs wander by. His look was a mix of that focused “eye,” which he is used to moving animals with, and a wide eyed fear/curiosity at the ambivalence of the pigs. As if Susu was to say, my normal way of doing things does not seem to be working.

I can relate.

January and February have been a time of introspection and thinking around this very topic. The normal way of doing things, they way we’ve always done it, the comfortable way of operating . . . is not getting the results we want, what do we do? For Susu I have the benefit of perspective, he is a herding dog and I know a pig’s nature makes it difficult to “herd” or push them. I know through experience that if we use solid visual barriers, like pieces of plywood they can be cajoled in the direction we want them to go.

Sometimes it feels as though Susu cannot see his own patterns anymore than I can. This is my work behind every spreadsheet, every email and every strategy session. To see or in many cases to feel the pattern. Writing my thoughts this week has been a good example of progressing from pattern blindness to awareness through feeling. By feeling I mean noticing what happens in my body and what actions I take from there.

First I noticed I was distracted, I was writing, and re-writing the sentence that eventually became “I can relate,” and suddenly I was checking my email followed by the cascade of guilt and frustration, damn I got distracted. Then back to writing and re-writing. I noticed my neck and shoulders were sore and stiff, maybe I need to stand up, take a break? I was so distracted and uncomfortable I had the thought, what is going on here? I think I’ll take a break and do something else.

Sitting back down to finish my thoughts, I am struck by the symbolism: I started to write about recognizing my own patterns; how I want to change my usual way of doing things and the act of writing it down was challenging enough I had to stop. HA! What a brilliant defense against change strategy. As I sit with and dig into my stiffness and my distraction I realize that I’m afraid of looking bad in some way. If the farm does not stay the same I will be judged, if we run our business in a different way, I will be criticized. I am reminded of Susu trying to move pigs. So here’s to new patterns, new ways and new perspective. Happy Valentine’s Day.