We didn't have children, SamIAm, by choice, and I'd be a grandparent by now, so having dogs/cats/ponies,sheep and the like (I still hanker after an alpaca to guard the sheep) all our lives is a great substitute. I think so anyway.
Thanks, angeldogs. You'd be amazed by how intelligent they are as well, and how funny they can be. My biggest ewe, back when she was just a youing adult, got the crazies when my sister and BIL were walking through the paddocks with me, and she and an equally huge wether starting playing like dogs will, galloping back and forth but you have to add the bouncing and propping that lambs do. Scared the daylights out of my sister and BIL, who I think thought they'd be trampled, whileI laughed at this stupid pair of show-offs .
They were such characters. That ewe is still with me and while I try to lock them all out of the yard so I can go in and spread the sheep pellets in the feeders without getting pushed over, she always waits in the yard, or bolts in before I can lock her out. To make matters worse, one of her twins is just as bad, very sneaky in how he can get past me.