Sad News

I got some very sad news last night that my good friend Jeff had lost his beloved Duke to a twisted bowel and renal failure. Jeff & Dee are dog-family; their dogs and mine are all related. Jeff's Mick is a littermate to Blair, Dee's Cap is littermate to Owen's mom, Dharma, Duke and Dusty are littermates. Duke was a black & white version of my Dusty - both big boys. But Duke was completely fearless on sheep from an early age.
Duke was with Martha for his early sheepdog education. I remember the first time she worked him; it was during a lunch time puppy starting demo during a week long Herding Camp that I had organized. The students had been divided into teams for various frivolous activities as well as some camp duties. One of which was 'sheep care' for the day; watering, feeding etc. During Duke's demo, one of the students came up to whisper in my ear - inquiring if the sheep in the round pen were 'ok'? As I watched I realized what she meant; several of the sheep appeared to be quite bloody! But it turned out the sheep were perfectly fine, Duke had inadvertantly bit his tongue in his extreme eagerness to get to them. And during the course of his work, like many young keen dogs there was some attempted flossing as well. We all had a good chuckle.
I saw Duke's progress over the next few months as his brother, Dusty was also at McHardy Boot Camp. So I visited quite often and could see how different the two boys were in their approach to the work. Duke went on very quickly, qualifying and running in Nursery at Klamath in '06 along with littermate, Dharma. Also coming along in Open the last couple years. Duke was 'the' special one for Jeff so I know how devastated he must feel. They do have some Dharma youngsters coming up but nobody will take Duke's place in Jeff's heart. The 'Big Happy' will be missed by all of us. The group picture of the 'D' litter shows from left to right; Duke, Dharma, older brother, Cap, Drift and Dusty.

More Snow

Yup we've got another 3-4" of snow and it is still coming down as of lunch time. This is like a real winter, like I've never seen in over 20 years of living in the Lower Mainland. I like that my yard is not muddy and the dogs come in clean. But I sure hope it doesn't mean we have to cancel the clinic this weekend. It is supposed to rain tomorrow so it should wash it all away.....
Big excitment in my neighborhood this morning. The snow must have brought a big branch down because the phone lines to the house across the road are down. A lady driving by saw it as it happened so she stopped and flagged traffic until a city truck showed up. He took charge and is still out there blocking the road. Cop car and fire truck also came but over an hour later and still no telephone or cable repairmen have arrived. Good thing that lady saw it as it is a very busy street with lots of trucks that would have ripped the power line and maybe the pole down. My power line is attached to the same pole. I did take a close look at my line...I need to get some trimming done as there are two big branches rubbing on it. One more repair bill that I need like a hole in my head.

Did not work sheep

Me bad. And lazy. Both my training partners jammed out yesterday so I did too. It has been sunny but cold for several days -4 or less with wind chill. The forecasted snow didn't come, now they say Tuesday and possibly more rain/snow mix on Friday. Great! Just in time for the Lee Lumb clinic on the weekend. :-( Oh well too much to ask for good weather in January. This will be the first year that I can remember that there has been snow on the ground for this long. Normally the flowers would be poking up.
I find the interactions between my dogs fascinating. This is what happens when you retire; you have time to just sit and watch dogs play. I might mention that Wyatt the Kennel King is neutered as is Prince Dusty. Blair, Jayne and Owen are all intact. Jayne just finished her 3rd. heat cycle a few days ago. Wyatt who has shown zero interest in her has now suddenly decided that he MUST, simply MUST mount her. What's with that? He and Dusty have been out with her(under supervision) for three weeks and he didn't even look twice at her. He usually sits on the deck with me watching while the BCs run around playing. I can tell when she is finished as Blair immediately ignores her. Then there is young Owen, not yet two. He has started annoying Dusty again; nose in his butt and dominence posturing. He is submissive to everyone else although he really likes to test Blair by stealing his favorite toy. Their hierarchy is a fluid thing, it changes regarding toys or food in particuliar. Dusty is so patient with everyone and loves to play, except he hates Blair. Dusty had been the baby when Blair came and was immediately very jealous of him. Blair avoids conflict at all costs but he & Wyatt have an interesting relationship. Sometimes Blair instigates it & sometimes Wyatt does; they posture and poke noses at each other, then Wyatt tries to mount Blair. Blair won't let him and runs off, then Wyatt ignores him as if it didn't happen. Wyatt used to play with Dusty and the two of them are best buds. Jayne will come up on the deck to play with Wyatt for a couple of minutes until he gets too rough. Jayne is the only one that Blair will occasionally wrestle with. Dusty hates when that happens and runs around them in tight little circles or stands over them. When Dusty isn't playing with Owen or Jayne, he is always 'working' Blair.
I'm attaching some old pix from the fall. Wyatt and the apple tree.

Slide

40 Things Aout Me

30 Things about me:
1. I hate the rain so wonder why I live at the wetcoast of BC
2. I lived in Alberta as a child, maybe I should move back there
3. I am an only child
4. I am a very good organizer or should I say bossy? see#3.
5. I was in a snow mobile accident at age 23 and ended up in the hospital with 4 casts. It was New Year's eve, yes I was drinking but I wasn't driving. I was in a wheelchair for 3 mos. before there was wheelchair access to ANYTHING. I had a plate and pins in both legs. One leg is shorter than the other and I now have arthritis in that knee.
6. I love seafood and asian food. Dim Sum is my favorite.
7. I worked for the telephone co. for 31 years before early retirement in '07. I had about 10 different jobs in 4 different cities.
8. I haven't lived with a cat for five years for the first time in my life. I travel too much. Cats don't like car rides or sheepdog trials. Dogs do.
9. I did inhale but I outgrew it. So did my Mom. It was fun.
10. I love horses and had one from the time I was 13 til just a few years ago. The first time I was on a horse by myself I was two. I competed in horse shows in my teens and then rodeos in my 20s. When I was 16 I would win bets because I could jump on any horse bareback, no matter how tall. I didn't get my first saddle for the longest time because my Mom was afraid I would fall off and get my foot hung up and dragged to death. If she only knew the things we did bareback....
11. Phys Ed. and Art were my favorite classes in school. I was always involved in sports - track & field, volleyball, soccer. I played and then coached fastpitch softball for 20 yrs.
12. We lived in a logging camp the winter I was 6. I learned to ice skate on a frozen pond hanging onto a kitchen chair.
13. My parents were byb. We had an ugly little terrier mix of some sort named Cindy. She was supposed to be my dog but she was attached to my Dad. He bred her to a chihuahua to make money selling the puppies for several years. When he moved out we gave her to my aunt & uncle. I had a cat that got eaten by a dog up the street so my Mom let me pick any puppy I wanted. I chose a Samoyed because we had just been to see the movie, Nicky Sled Dog of the North. I got into obedience trials with her as a teenager. She lived to be 14.
14. I was a very shy & quiet child. Quit laughing.
15. When I was a kid in Edmonton we often played in our back alley. We had games like; jump off the roof of garages, steal apples from neighbors, have rock fights. Yes, we threw rocks at each other. I tried to introduce it at school and was quite surprised that the teachers frowned upon my idea.
16. When I was a kid, nobody's parents picked them up at school. We would have been horrified. We rode our bikes to school. We rode them everywhere - searching for pop bottles to make money to buy candy or to the swimming pool. There was no such thing as a 'mall'.
17. No I am not 96, I am only 56. At least for another 36 days.
18. I was conceived on a commercial fishing boat off the west coast of Vancouver Island. The boat, Foamcrest is still an active vessel moored in Ucluelet.
19. I love the water and boats. see #18. Had a cool little 22' motoryacht while I was married and sailed every weekend all around the Gulf & San Juan Islands.
20. I always have a book on the go. Usually a dozen or so checked out from the library.
21. My Mom used to read to me at bedtime. I always begged for just one more page. She finally just handed me the book and said 'Learn to read it yourself'. I forget how old I was, but pretty young. She & I used to take the bus downtown every Sat. morning to go to my hated tap dance lessons and then to the library. I would check out the 4 books allowed on my child's card then pick 6 more to go on her card.
22. In grade four my teacher accused me of lying when I listed about 40 or 50 books on my reading list. My Mom had a chat with her. I've read every horse book in the library. My favorites were the Black Stallion & the Silver Brumby series.
23. My Mom is the person I most admire in the world. She is 93 and lives on her own. And drives a sporty '90 Honda Prelude. She dragged me to peace marches and was the treasurer of the Green Party of BC until just a few years ago.
24. My dad left when I was 12. He spoiled me so it was a good thing he left when he did or I would have turned out way worse. He did most of the cooking. I was a picky eater and hated vegetables. They tried to make me stay at the table until I ate my peas. I outlasted them. Cindy got the peas.
25. I don't believe in organized religion. When I was 12 my Mom took me to a different church every Sunday so I could decide which one I liked for myself. I picked the holy-roller Baptist with all the singing and crying out 'Yay Lord' which I thought was very entertaining. She picked the Unitarian which is where we went from then on.
26. I don't own a dress. The last one I wore was a wedding dress in 1979.
27. I can't sing. Tone deaf. But I could play piano by ear. Which was more lessons I was forced to take because it was good for me.
28. Robbie Burns is my favorite poet. I once memorized Ode to a Louse for a school project.
29. My first job was teaching riding. My first real job was in a margarine factory. I couldn't believe that some of my co-workers had been there for TEN years!! It was mind numbing assembly line work but the pay was awesome for that time. $2.35/hour.
30. My first car was a VW bug. Now I drive a Dodge Ram 4x with an 8-hole dog topper.

Finally! Sheep time.

Except for my shady backyard the local fields are showing green again. We were fogged in last week but the weather cleared up for a beautiful sunny weekend. The trails and parks were full of hikers & bikers & dogs.
Yesterday my training partner, Lynda and I went to our friend's farm to work our dogs for the first time in six weeks! Lynda got to work her yearling for the first time since she came home from getting started. They look to become a very nice team. Young Lark is keen but biddable which will be a pleasant change from Lynda's hard headed boy, Try. I forgot my camera so no pictures damnit. It was a gorgeous day, so warm that afterward we sat out in the field talking dogs & enjoying a beer Karleen brought out for us. Canadians rarely drink liquor around dogs.
I did not work Blair as he went through a very scary time the night before. I am pretty sure that Dusty 't-boned' him - he came into the house at supper time barely able to stay upright. Staggering like a crab sideways and obviously in a lot of pain. He vomited shortly after - from shock I suspect. There was no sign of injury; he was alert and eyes focused so I didn't think it was head trauma. I kept a close eye on him and luckily after a couple hours he appeared to be ok. By bedtime he was fine...but no work for him the next day.
At Karleen's, I used Dusty for the chores: he helped unload a couple ewes being delievered, then brought in the flock & sorted a group for Lynda, then just hung out in case Lark needed help. He picked them out of a corner for her once and also drove them off to the farthest end of the field so that Shelley could do a nice big outrun with Riggs.
When they were all done, I got Jayne out last as she is in heat. We had a pretty good session considering how long it has been since she last saw sheep. However I am still having a problem with her busting in on them once every time we work. This time it was on a fetch - after she had done several outruns, no apparent reason why. She just loses her head & blows in on them. I feel bad because I know it is my fault; I should be reading her better and preventing the situation before it happens. I know it is also because we are 'weekend trialers' who don't own sheep & have real regular work for my dogs. At Jayne's age she should be going to sheep every day and doing chores not just session of 'drills' a couple times a week. Lee Lumb will be here for a clinic in two weeks so hopefully she can help me.

Where does 'WalkOn' come from

Not long after I got Blair we brought Peter Gonnet out to BC to teach a clinic. During my session with him I explained that Blair was the WonderDog. I was also sporting a pair of pink tinted sun glasses that I had been wearing ever since Martha suggested that I was viewing Blair through 'rose-colored' glasses. After watching me work Blair for a few minutes, Peter called me over and reached out to take my sunglasses off placing them on Blair instead. He said that his name wasn't WonderDog but should instead be 'Jesus'. Because he could 'walk on water'. I think he really meant that it was a miracle Blair would do anything with me as his handler.

The Dogs

I have had heelers or ACDs since the mid-70s but the first one to work sheep is Wyatt aka Mr.Affable aka King of the Kennel. He got me started in this obsession 7 years ago. We did the kennel club thing and competed in some arena trials put on by the local Border Collie folks. They were very welcoming and encouraging despite holding their collective breath(s) every time Wyatt worked. Unusual for a cattledog, Wyatt never gripped sheep(different story on cattle) but he had no outrun. 'Why go 'around' when it is quicker to go straight at them? After all, they aren't going anywhere - the fence will stop them. And it is fun to see them split & jump around....' He developed a chronic lameness when he was two so I retired him from 'herding'. I had often gone & watched Border Collie trials so decided to get one. The plan was to learn more from the field trial world that would help me do better in the kennel club world. hahaha
So that is how Dusty came into my life. He goes back to Bill Berhow's Nick through Martha McHardy of MarCar Border Collies on Vancouver Island but was out of two farm dogs. Dusty went to Sgt.McHardy's Boot Camp for Wayward Sheepdogs when he was a year old. He spent a couple months there but through the entire time made it very clear that he wasn't keen to work for anyone but me. Eventually and after numerous clinics we have muddled our way to the Pro/Nov level. However Dusty would much prefer just doing chores or having a 'job' like set out than face the unknowns of a trial course.
While waiting for Dusty to grow up, a young started 2yr.old was offered back to Martha. She suggested that I buy him as he would be ready to trial right away. So Blair joined the family. He is sired by Peter Gonnet's Moss and out of a ranch bitch bred by Martha. Blair was soon named 'The Wonderdog' by me....as it was a wonder he worked so well with me as his handler. :-) After having worked ACDs, this Border Collie took my breath away. He was awesome. We entered and placed in a few Nov/Nov trials that summer and then got our feet wet in Pro/Nov that winter and the next year. Every time I started to get comfortable, Martha encouraged me to step up to the level that Blair was ready for.(she didn't seem to care much where I was) ;-) I guess we were fairly successful in Pro/Nov because the BCSDA bumped us up to Open the following year. Which is where we bumble around to this day.
During a conversation with a friend, she mentioned that she was getting a puppy from Peter & Pam Gonnet. Sired by Moss and out of Pam's bitch, Meg who is sired by Kathy Knox's Jake. I have admired Moss and Jake for some time, so jumped to the phone to see if there were any female pups left. Which is how Jayne came to live with us in 2007. After getting started last winter by Lee Lumb of Vernon, BC Jayne and I are slowly working towards the trial field. It is a very slow process being that we don't own sheep but must go to friends several times a week.
Lastly comes young Owen. I had no need nor intention of getting a 5th dog but I fell in love with his unique look. Plus he had a couple sisters who are doing very well for their novice handlers. Plus he was sired by my Blair and out of a nice farm bitch who is the same way bred as Dusty. Owen will be starting his sheepdog career this spring.

More pix of Winter '09

I post these pictures only because it is SO rare for us to get this much snow let alone for it to last so long. The one picture showing grass is our usual 'winter'.

Had enough winter

It is almost mid- January and my dogs have not seen sheep since early Dec. Record snow and cold leading up to Christmas, more snow at New Year's and then torrential rain causing flooding everywhere. Snow & icy fields at my friends' still prevent working dogs. I was sick of winter by the fist of November, boy was I asking for it. Wyatt was so cold I spoiled him and let/made him wear a doggy blanket.