Name
Reading Practice
Reading Skill Goal: To be able to refer to details and examples
in a text when explaining exactly what the text says and when
drawing inferences from the text.
SHEEP DOGS
In the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming, interstate
highways cross summer sheep ranges. Often a band of sheep wifi
graze close to an unfenced roadway. Little by little, some of the
sheep edge out toward the passing cars and trucks. “Hey, Shep!”
shouts the herder. Immediately his dog, a small collie named
Charlie, dashes around the animals. He drives them back to
safety.
Charlie may be just a dog, but our important wool-growing
industry could not get along without him. Two thirds of
American wool comes from western plains, deserts, and
mountain ranges. In these places, a herder without his dog
would be as helpless as a cowboy without his horse.
The first sheep dogs and sheepmen came into the West in
the middle of the 1 800s. They came from Scotland. Many of the
dogs, known as border collies, were among Scotland’s best. They
are smart and able to stand the physical hardships of months on
the range. Many of them are black and white. Usually they are
smallish.
Wherever sheep are raised, you will hear stories of how
alert and careful the dogs are. They know the minute sheep are
missing from a group. Sometimes the herder doesn’t hunt for
them at once. Then the dog will often get them without being
told.
In Wyoming many years ago, a man bought 300 sheep. He
started trailing them across country to his ranch. This was a
sheep’s journey of four days. The first day he missed one of his
dogs and five sheep. He did not stop. He kept on with the rest of
the sheep to his journey’s end. Then he went back to look for the
missing animals. Just one day’s journey behind him, he met the
dog with the five strays. He continued to go back along the trail.
He found that the dog had carefully bedded his sheep in the
fields each night of the hard journey!
The Red Desert of southern Wyoming is the last stamping
ground of the old-time wandering sheep herders. Some of them
manage 100,000 sheep and have 200 dogs! When baby lambs
are born, men and dogs work day and night. A dog that is good
around lambs knows how to push the little lambs gently with his
nose. He pushes until they wobble to their feet and trail off after
their mothers. He then circles back over the bed ground to make
sure he has every one. If he finds a lamb left behind, he stands
over it, barking until the herder comes. He acts the same way if
a sheep falls and gets on its back. A sheep on its back will be as
helpless as a turtle. It may die unless someone comes to its aid.
Winter is a dangerous time for sheep and sheep herders.
When winter comes down, the sheep are likely to scatter and
drift before the storms. A good sheep dog keeps them from
scattering. Even in a storm, it is hard to confuse a good dog. A
herder who had tended sheep along the Yellowstone River for
years told a story about his favorite dog, Queenie. The herder
was groping his way back to the camp with his band of sheep.
They had to go through a blinding Montana blizzard. Queenie
disobeyed him for the first time in her life. She crowded the
sheep to the left of where he wanted to go. He called to her, but
she kept turning the flock to the left. Suddenly he saw the
wagon directly ahead of where the dog was taking them!
Except for Queenie’s cleverness, he would have missed his camp
and died in the blizzard.
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Refer to Details
Write at least three things you learned from the text to prove
that sheep dogs are smart and three things to prove that they
are able to stand hardships. You will get ideas from the whole
story, not just from one paragraph. Write in complete sentences.
1) Sheep dogs are smart.
2) Sheep dogs can stand hardships.
Inference
An inference is when you figure something out from evidence in
the story instead of it being directly told to you. Can you make
some inferences?
3) What can you infer about the man in the text who bought
300 sheep?
A) He thought the dog had probably died and did not want
to go back to look for him.
B) He knew he should take more dogs with him next time.
C) He trusted his dog to follow along and was not worried.
ID) Both A and B are correct answers.
4) What can you infer about how Queenie’s owner felt after
the blizzard?
A) He would not trust Queenie again in a winter storm.
B) Queenie remained his favorite dog.
C) He would probably not doubt Queenie’s decisions about
which way to go ever again.
ID) Both B and C are correct answers.
5) Although the story never gives this information, what can
you infer about the location of Montana and Wyoming from
the text?
A) They are in the southern United States.
B) They are in the eastern United States.
C) They are in the western United States.
D) They are in the northern United States.
6) Why do you think sheep dogs are such good helpers to
their masters? Choose the best inference.
A) They all have a natural and motherly instinct with
sheep.
B) They are loyal and want to please their masters and
make them happy.
C) They enjoy the food that comes as a reward for helping.
D) They are not intelligent enough to realize they are
working and for them it is just a game.
Refer to Text
7) Find the sentences in the text that give exact information
about the size and color of border collies. Copy them below:
8) A simile is a figure of speech comparing two different
things using the words “like” or “as.” Find a simile in the
text and copy it below.
9) Two dogs are mentioned by name in the text. What are
their names and are they male or female dogs?
©Mark Aaron
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