Mini-Kelpie

Introducing 'Enzo El Magnifico' the latest addition to my pack.
He is a black & tan mini-Kelpie. ;-)
Enzo arrived on Sunday. I picked him up in Edmonds just before the big snow storm hit on Monday. He came from IDAWG herding dog rescue in Idaho. Thanks to their network to get him transport from Nampa.
He has already made friends with Wyatt and Dusty. He has put the run on Blair which I need to put a stop to. Can't have my Open dog scared of a bitty thing like this 6 pounder. lol
Enzo is bold as brass and a holy terror on toys. Loves to play fetch....hoping he can fetch sheep as well as toys and balls. LOL
ps; He is not really a mini-Kelpie, he is a Chihuahua. The only thing Kelpie-like about him is his black and tan color.

Olympia Nov.12-15

Good old Art is very patient watching dogs work his sheep. He even allows my dogs on the property. I went down to Olympia on Fri. Nov.12 to spend the weekend with the Marroni's. I had a lesson booked Sat. morning with Karen Child at Fido's.
So after I got back from my lesson, we worked dogs. Dee & Art watching Jeff work his pup.
Yes you may have noticed something in Dee's hand. It is her birthday coming up so we celebrated while I was visiting.
This is Jeff's young 'Tank'. He is just around a year old and has only been on sheep a few times.
Nice thoughtful dog.
Tank doing a little gather with nice natural pace on his fetch.
Sunday night is 'happy hour' in the hot tub before going out for dinner to Red Lobster.
no caption needed....
fighting over the last biscuit. They are almost as good as the seafood!
I love this barn.
This space between the barn on the left and the treeline to the right used to have cross-fencing for a night paddock. Now the 2 mid-sized fields have been opened up into one nice big 'L' shaped area to work. Owen is ready to help do some real chores.
Owen got to be the man to help separate 8 ewes to go to the ram to be bred.
Owen is out of sight somewhere behind the sheep.
Pushed down to Jeff at the gate and into ram's field.
Job well done young Owen. Who says weekend trial dogs can't be useful on a farm? ;-)

Happy Bday Jayne you bitch!

I just a few minutes ago had to look up Jayne's pedigree to remember her birthdate. It was today. We spent it running P/N at the Island Crossing SDT. in Arlington with some pretty nice mixed sun & cloud weather. Blair gave up his Open runs over the weekend so the youngsters could run in both trials for a change....hindsight; should have run Blair. lol
Owen did an exact repeat of his run on this field in August; he went to the sheep he could see - in the exhaust pen. I left the post and helped him find sheep across the gully which we then exhausted. I have no idea why he is doing this as I have been sending him bigger distances on other strange fields with no problem; only difference is the dips and gully on this field where they lose sight of the sheep. He hasn't had enough work at bigger distances to go out blindly on trust but goes to where he can smell/hear/see sheep I guess.
Jayne ran next and did a repeat of her run on this field in August; beautiful outrun although leaving my feet too wide, but got to the top, lifted ok, started the fetch, then dove in & grabbed a leg. Left that one behind, continued down the fetch deaf to all my whistles and corrections. I left the post and exhausted the sheep.
Owen's second chance; figured he now knows where the sheep are. Wrong - he went to the exhaust again. I left the post, helped him find sheep & exhausted them.
I pulled Jayne from her 2nd run as there is obviously something going on with these sheep/this field that is blowing her mind. No point in doing the same stuff over again; we need to come down here and train before attempting to trial here. So instead, I threw Dusty in her place.
He hasn't worked much since I retired him from trialing in June so I didn't have high expectations but thought it was an opportunity for him on a field & sheep he used to be very familiar with. Wrong again; he also went to the exhaust. However I managed to get him up the field without leaving the post but when a set out dog moved, in the usual Dusty fashion, he quit & let the sheep run back to the pens.....sigh.
So a fun day visiting with friends and watching other dogs make some nice runs, including my travel partner, Lynda. She and Lark threw down a sweet 5th place run in the second trial today! Whoohoo for them! She also had a very decent run with her tough little Try in the first go. So at least one of us was pretty happy on the ride home tonite....which is all we can ask for.
Oh yeah, we had a ton of fun & laughs visiting with everyone Sun. nite at Joe & Heather's house & then out to Red Robin for Heather's birthday dinner. Joe's choice but he promised not to let the staff know about the celebration.....oops....someone else told them and we were treated to the 5th?6th? of the night's "Happy Birthday song & clapping" by the waiters. LOL
Last but not least congrats to Ruedi and Blair's daughter, Teak for their win in Open on Sat. and a repeat with his good rescue dog, Scot on Sun.