Nice Kickoff to 2010

Ms.Bis Cotti and friends proved to be very challenging for the dogs this day.
Blair trying to settle them.
Blair driving and doing his best to hold a line. He was working way off to their left to hold the pressure from the draw.
Finished but would still like to work some more....please?
Kristi's Lou is also doing his best to settle them and hold the pressure. He is such a gorgeous manly dog. :-)
Owen is thinking "Wow! These girls are really taking off!" He was very challenged by them at the beginning; not covering with gusto and allowing them to escape to a draw. However I made him recoup by going into a corner along a fenceline which was very hard for a slightly hesitant fellow....but in the end he made some big gains in confidence with holding pressure and taking inside flanks.
Young Lark did amazing on Ms.Bis Cotti.
'Meerkat' Lexy had to watch all afternoon and was very composed for her age and the activity going on. But head held high as possible so as not to miss a thing.
Try driving the 'nicer' group.
Our generous hostess, Pam with a couple of her dogs. If only we could work here every weekend......sigh.......
Kristi working her new young Rex.
Rose's Meg did some awesome work too. She has shown some of the biggest advances with Rose really taking charge of her. These sheep were the type to trigger every button in Meg but she kept control and didn't lose her head once.
And I am very happy with my young Jayne who also held her composure despite the strong draw/pressure(much like Meg).
I think our breakthrough in Oct. is still holding out. Jayne handled everything I asked of her with no busting/flying though. We did a lot of driving because they were not holding for any type of outrun. I also did some flanking with whistles as it is long past time that I put those on her.

It was SO nice to get out in a big field again and see how the dogs handled being stretched out to bigger distances. They all rose to the occasion and surpassed expectations. Plus it was a lucky break in the recent stormy weather to have some blue sky and no rain - what a treat!
Good weather, great company, spend an afternoon watching awesome working dogs.....life is sweet.

All photos thanks to Rose McLeod.

Boxing Day

Bruce working young Sam who is one of those amazing natural dogs. He is doing nice gathers the length of the field and some little drives showing some nice moves and pace. Bruce has been using him for chores; holding sheep off the feeder while he gets hay out of the barn, bringing the flock in/out and sorting the working group etc. It really shows the benefit of that kind of work because Sam already seems to understand the work better. I feel bad or....kind of amazed that my dogs have any sort of 'feel' because all they do is 'drill' work in the field - without a 'purpose' that would help them understand the 'why' of what I ask them to do. The fact that they still work so well is testament to how intelligent these dogs are. They continue to inspire and awe me every day.
Jana allows Dusty to watch from 'her' spot. No other dog would get that close without seeing the bitch-grin at least.
I think she lets him near because he doesn't even look at her - he only has eyes for sheep...like Jana. They both got a spin around the field after Sam finished. You can see in the pictures how low the sun is from the long shadows even in mid-day. So nice to know that sunset will get later and later from here on in.

It was a lovely bright sunny day with clear blue sky although cold for us. The shady parts of the field were still frosty. But a super great day to work sheep. I worked all four of my dogs as I felt that poor Dusty and Blair have been getting short shift this fall as I concentrate on the youngsters; Jayne & Owen. I did some shedding with Blair and he is really starting to get the idea and liking it a lot. I take the opportunity to do a little 'look back' which I hope will help someday if we were to somehow get into a double lift. lol I have no idea if this is a good training method or not....
Kristi was also there with her new young dog, Rex - they are looking like a great upcoming P/N team next season! He has been in training with Lee Lumb for a year so Kristi has only worked him a few times since she got him home a few weeks ago.
Bruce's Josh looked good also....and Rose's Lexy, littermate to Sam.

Herding Xmas Party

Hmmm...you ask....what do chickens have to do with herding or an xmas party?
Curious sheep also watching and wondering what is going on?
Hint: this is the empty chicken house. Location of the 'half-time' entertainment of the party.
This is the star of the 'show'; Crumby, Flyball dog extra-ordinaire
And his co-star, the elderly Jack.
Ah ha! What do terriers do for a living?
Search and DESTROY RATS!! Where there are chickens there are rodents. Where there is a huge horse boarding stable next door,there are rodents....
Well done Jack Russells, tried their best but no rats were harmed today. Notice the sunshine! Sweet lordy after the frigid spell last week, we are back to a balmy +9c today!
Marg, Rose & Deb enjoying the nice weather. Old Roy has a new custom made coat by Nancy.
YES! Working dogs did happen today. Here is my young Owen getting in some work after we had enjoyed a yummy lunch of delectables in the house.
Bruce, Brit, Gabby and Marg's hubby, Tony watching dogs working sheep.
Nancy working her youngster, Rain.
Had to include this to show that we did get some snow. Rose took these two pix of Lynda's Try and Lark on Monday in the same field as the above photos. This is our typical wetcoast style of winter.
Lark in the snow. It was all washed away yesterday by the rain. As you can tell by the other pix above...by today you would never know it happened.

Working dogs Thur: Something a little different

This is what happens when you go away to AZ and leave your real dogs up country til next week: you are so desperate to work a dog that ANY dog will do.
Seriously, we bullied Margaret into working her long-retired 10 yr.old Boomer
And by golly, he didn't do half bad!
Not to be outdone, in a moment of tomfoolery I asked to give Wyatt a spin too. What follows is what happens when a dog has not worked sheep in...4? 5? years: here I am at the gate attempting to establish some control by reminding him what "lie down" means.
Obviously I wasted my breath. As you can see he was so excited and going so FAST that he is a blur!
You can't see it, but my mouth is wide open and screaming at him.
More wasted breath as he zips around again. Why is my crook ass backwards? I figured if I connected it would do less damage. ;-)
See...that end of the crook IS more threatening!!
FINALLY! A moment of memory of how to properly work stock enters his brain. Wyatt is 8 yrs. old and did the all-breed trials for his first 2 yrs. before retiring after developing some sort of chronic lameness that was eventually diagnosed as conformation related.(I took 10lbs. off him over a year and he has never had a lame step since) But he got me hooked on this sheep thing and the rest is history.

And yes I did work Jayne and Owen earlier. It was cold but we braved it. Actually in my long johns and turtle neck sweater under my Cowichan vest, I was quite comfortable. Rose supplying us with hot coffee & snacks as usual helped too. :-)
All photography by Rose McLeod.

Owen Portrait

Photograph of Owen
portrait
finished art
place of honor in hall by front door. THANK YOU Pam Earl of SnarkyDog Studio. What a gorgeous present.

It was SO bright.....

that it hurt my eyes. Eyes that have not seen sun since...can't remember when. We only had 55 hours of sunshine in November - the norm is 75. We had 25 days of rain, norm is 20. We had 265cm of precipitation, norm is 181. So it was a welcome kick off to December! What a gorgeous blue sky with sun sparkling on the Golden Ears mountains viewed from McLeods'. What a nice change from last week. And a forecast of dry/sun through the weekend! Whoohoo! I'll be helping the Kings team at the Flyball Tourney indoors on Sat/Sun instead of working dogs but....who knew at the time of commitment.
Owen and Jayne both did so well today that I am almost at a loss of what to do with them in training. They are both taking nice inside flanks and driving...not a lot more to work on in some ways, just needing the miles. Both could do with chores and something 'real' that would show them a purpose to the work, but alas, I don't have that opportunity right now. I fear I lack the imagination & insight of the work that would allow me to 'create' work. Plus I am lazy so when they work so well, I'm inclined to quit early. But I am sure that something will come up that will take us a couple steps back and show a hole that needs work. lol Well, I did see a little thing with Jayne at the end; she had fetched the sheep to me and as they drifted off to my right, I said "That'll do." Which she took for an opportunity to blow up and bust through the flock! What a silly girl. But tells me there is still that pent up energy and pressure she is feeling. Which also makes me wonder if the only reason she isn't busting through these days is because I am controlling her with lie downs instead of working through the issue....sigh....
Last Thurs. I gave Blair some work for a change and did some shedding. Wow oh wow, what a difference it is making! I wish I could afford to give him even 5mins. of this every time. The big difference is that I can see that he is 'getting it' and understanding what we are doing AND he thinks it is quite FUN! It is kind of a no-brainer that when you never practice something, how can you expect your dog to do it at a trial? Plus it is a chance to work on the 'look back'; after we shed, I have him drive and work the group for a few minutes. Then I can ask for a look back to go gather the other group back with the first.
So after coffee & a short working session, I 'helped' Rose put up xmas lights on the house....well, actually, I stood there and 'held' the ladder while Rose did all the work. ;~}
I had to add the pic of 15 yr.old Roy because old dogs are so wonderful and we have them for such a short time. I never knew Roy when he was younger, actually just got to know him in the last month or so. But I think he is a poster boy for the working Border Collie; just look in his eyes and see the will to work at whatever job asked, regardless of how lacking physically he could do it. Plus he still has the 'gumption' to growl at my young Owen to tell him off, even though he might not quite know why he might be saying it. I love this old dog.
The other two speak for themselves....Lynda home on lunch break for coffee and the pretty snow capped mountains. What a view!

Soggy Days

Another Tuesday working dogs at McLeods'. We've had big winds and rainy storm fronts moving through for a typical November. Lucked out today with a window of dry to work Jayne & Owen. I was very pleased with Owen; I started him off by walking up and then driving the sheep to the bottom of the field. Then doing some flanking...and he took a couple inside flanks at that distance! Yippee! Maybe he is slowly 'getting' it. He is still reluctant to take the come by even close at hand, but I am chipping away at it.
Jayne was also very good. I did the same start with her; walk up then drive, then flank. It seems to help hold the sheep so that when I do ask for a little gather, they don't book it up the field immediately. Did lots of inside flanks and driving with Jayne and only one time did she even 'think' about flying through - instead her flank was just very fast. ;-) She is taking all of her lie down(stop-stand) whistles which is making a huge difference. I am enforcing that with Owen too which is helping him even though he is real easy to stop.
Other than that, not much happening. Following CFL playoffs the last couple Sundays; Grey Cup next weekend. GO Saskatchewan!!!! The Barries' next BCSDA arena trial is next Sunday so I am torn...trial or game? Plus weather is forecast for possible snow flurries! Ewww. The Whidbey Island SDT trial is coming up but I haven't been able to get out on any big spaces lately so that would probably be a waste of money. The weather and early darkness are not conducive to enticing me out to trials these days. Guess I classify as a fair-weather kind of handler. lol I can live with that. Plus I have a huge fencing bill coming up which will put a big dent in dog activities.