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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A sheepdog is being hailed as a hero on social media after coming to the rescue of three stranded ewes who were stuck on flooded farmland.
However, while many online have been quick to praise the courageous pup for braving the elements to come to the sheep's rescue, her owner says it's all part of the job for the work dog.
Farmer Llŷr Jones, from Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr in Wales, United Kingdom, took to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday to share the dramatic footage of his 8-year-old Kelpie Collie cross, Patsy, swimming out to guide the three stricken sheep to higher land.
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Watching the clip of Patsy helping bring the ewes home serves as a reminder of just how intelligent our canine friends can be.
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According to psychologist and leading canine researcher Stanley Coren, dogs are capable of understanding more than 150 words and possess mental abilities close to that of a human child aged around 2 to 3.
That intelligence was certainly on display as Jones attempted to gather his flock in as the extreme weather conditions caused by Storm Babet continued to cause havoc and flooding in the U.K.
"The field in the video is prone to flooding," he told Newsweek. "After lunch I went to check the sheep were safe and that's when I saw the three ewes."
Jones said the water levels had risen quicker than expected. "I usually get more warning," he said, who added that he was just about to begin wading out across the water when he suddenly thought to himself, "I wonder if Patsy would do it."
"So I sent her away and off she goes. She just jumped in and swam across," he said. "She got the three ewes off that little island and over onto the other side and on to higher ground."
Patsy proved more than up to the task. So much so, in fact, that Jones ended up filming the sheepdog's efforts. "My shepherdess is training her dog so I decided to film it to show her, as a joke, like 'my dog is better than your dog,'" he said. "Bragging rights."
Jones was always ready to intervene and could have moved the sheep along himself, though he admits he might have "struggled to get all three of them off" and across the water. "She just seemed to do it effortlessly," he said.
The impressive way in which Patsy dealt with the situation was not lost on viewers watching along on X.
"Wow, what a star. Dogs are ace," one user wrote. "Bless her, so brave," a second added, with a third user writing: "Worth her weight in gold bless her."
Despite Patsy's efforts, Jones was keen to play down the idea of it being anything out of the ordinary, noting that she got a "pat on the head and an extra biscuit" for her stellar showing.
"They are working dogs," he explained. "They live outside. They're not pets. But they love their work and are so eager to please."
Even so, he confirmed that she slept well that night. "She was just doing her job," he added. "She's there to make our lives and our work easier and she was just doing that."
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