Nothing is more uncomfortable than having intrusive neighbors who just can’t seem to take a hint – and nobody knows this better than the Russo family who had a flock of 200 wooly nearby residents stampede into their yard on Monday night. In the city of Lincoln, California where Erin Russo and Scott Russo live with their kids, sheep sightings have become a norm, after the city employed the livestock to clear out the overgrowth that can contribute to wildfires. But, in a moment of oversight, the family soon learned that the grazing sheep on the other side of the fence are far from sheepish.

A California family had some uninvited guests take over their backyard

It all began when the Russo’s opened their gate to give their daughters a better view of the sheep. “Once a year they graze for two or three days to clear the overgrowth,” Erin Russo told Bored Panda, and said she had never heard of them crossing over into anybody’s yard. Little did they know these sheep weren’t bashful as they seemed: “The curious sheep were peeking their heads in our back gate for a while but would scamper off as soon as they saw us. Then one came in, which became a dozen in the blink of an eye, and then hundreds. When we tried to corral them out, they would only shift to the other parts of the yard as others continued to flood in through the gate. It happened very quickly.”

Luckily for the internet, her husband Scott Russo caught the stampede on camera, complete with hilarious narration. He first tried first to shout at them hoping they would get the message, but the animals ignored his instruction.

Between fits of laughter, he tried everything from making sheep noises himself to shouting ‘Get off my lawn!” But Erin said she wasn’t as amused, “My husband seemed entertained by the situation, but I was pretty nervous. I felt like it was urgent that we get the sheep out of the yard.”

From the video you see him try to corral and herd them out but this human is no sheepdog and turns to the camera and admits he doesn’t know what to do.

While her husband tried to chase sheep Erin grabbed her girls to get them to safety: “Initially, we were all in the yard (my husband, me, and our two daughters).. but, as soon as I realized how many sheep were coming in, I rushed our girls inside and they watched from there. Our 4 and 5-year-old daughters thought it was hilarious. They kept saying “Daddy let the leader in!”

During the madness, the Erin started jumping on the trampoline and waving a tambourine to try and scare the sheep

At one point Russo is finally able to get out some of the sheep but there are still some wandering around the backyard so his wife Erin provided back-up. “I thought that something loud might help get them to leave the yard. So, I grabbed my daughter’s play tambourine. Along with help from my husband leading the way and stopping more from coming in, this helped do the trick,” she explained

She had proceeded to get into the kids’ trampoline and waved around one of their tambourines in an effort to scare the sheep. In the video, you hear her husband say, “keep shaking it’s working!”

The sheep find their bearings and begin to file out of the yard with the help of the noise from the tambourine and his herding skills.

” It all happened so fast,” Scott told Bored Panda, “it went from funny to freakout real quick, but looking back I was pretty calm about it all.”

At one point the departing sheep look as though they might take out the entire fence during the chaos but manage to make it through the small opening to freedom. Erin said the whole ordeal lasted just a couple of minutes, “They did not like the noise from the tambourine, so they shuffled out as quickly as they could get through the gate once I started shaking it.”

All in all the sheep adventure had a happy ending.“I’m a silly kinda guy. I always want to provide a show for my girls. What thoughts were going through your head? adapt, overcome, improvise – I’m a former US Marine,” said Scott.

After this, it’s safe to say they won’t be counting sheep to get to sleep anytime soon

Watch the video here to see how the whole sheepy business eventually unfolded

The video ended up going viral in an unexpected way. “I work for Volkswagen,” explained Scott, “one of my customers a day after I filmed it works for Fox40 news. I showed her and that was that.”

People loved the hilarious sheep invasion story

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