Happy Easter!

Sorry no more pix.....Rose never did upload last week's working shots. ;-)
Not much new this week; I worked Blair & Owen on Tues because I felt like I needed a break to work my 'easy' dogs. Blair has started howling/barking in the topper half way down 248th. St. and then again as soon as I turn onto McLeods' 40th Ave! What a BAD dog!!! Owen yipes and howls on 40th but not as bad as Blair. I need to make a trip to Tisol to buy more 'stuff' for my bark collar obviously. Blair is also VERY bad at barking/seal sound when I even take another dog out of the truck, let alone work them! ;-(
So, needless to say, he got left at home today. Along with Dusty who is getting a lot of 'short shift' on sheep these days. It was a cold windy blustery showery day.....very cold even in the shelter of the 'McLeod Family Room aka garage'. At least until after Marg worked her first dog...then the sun came out and the rain stopped just in time for me to work Jayne. She had a good session. I sometimes feel at a loss for knowing what to work on after about 5 mins........(with all my dogs). It is the sad world my 'hobby' dogs face; no real work but just repetitive 'drills'. However I did feel with Owen today that he can move to bigger space(trial) without much effort. He is not at all grippy up there even when at a further distance than our comfort zone. With him, it will be a matter of him taking every flank command and quickly. Jayne is the better dog, but she will have issues at the top if the sheep don't lift before she gets there....and harder to get a hold of at a distance. Shall be interesting to see how both these youngsters do in some trials this year. I am looking forward to getting these two out on the trial field to see where the holes in my training are. It is so different than when I trialed Blair at the same age.....
I am going down to Arlington on Sat. for Heather's baby shower which may include some sheep time so at least they will get out on different s/f. Plus John Carter is having a 'Handy Dog' trial on Sunday out at Downriver which, if the weather is nice, will give them another different s/f experience. Plus next weekend is the Karen Child clinic at Fido's which I am really looking forward to.

This week

No pictures until Rose uploads some from Tues....hint hint. Guess she is a tad busy bottle feeding lambs and getting all the raffle prizes out of the house for the Flyball tourney this weekend. lol
Anyway, Marg and I worked dogs on Tues. in the sunshine and warm weather. It was so nice on Wed. that I had the doors open and the dogs playing in the yard all day. But back to Tues; I tried to work Jayne first but the little flock of working sheep were being far too reactive to accomplish anything. I imagine it is mostly Jayne's intensity & speed that fire them up, but it is a waste of time to try to do anything once they are in that mood. So I came out within a minute or so and Marg went in with Kane. Needless to say they settled to him right off the bat. So I tried Jayne again and they started working much better for her. They did great for Owen too so he had a good session.
After the nice weather earlier in the week, Thurs. was ghastly; I got to McLeods' as it started pouring rain. Marg and Rose were already in the house having coffee. So....we wussed out and didn't work our dogs. lol
This morning we were in Cloverdale helping set up for the tourney. Weather turned nice again. This afternoon I checked out Canadian Tire & bought a nice little expandable wooden kiddie-gate to partition Blair's 'kennel' space on my deck. I also happened upon a perfect portable BBQ for the trailer when going to sheepdog trials. Much much better than the one I have now; this one has telescoping legs so it is stand alone instead of balancing on one of my wire crates(like the one now). It also has a much deeper/higher lid so more stuff will fit properly on the upper/warming shelf. Can't wait to try it out! I had one similar before that worked great.

My weekend

Pam May & John Carter have been doing a stockdog demo. with ducks at the Lower Mainland QH Club's annual Bazaar for the last 3 years. This time Pam hauled her sheep there and asked for some of us to volunteer to help with the demo. John did the announcing and Pam did most of the stock handling.
Pam and Tally do some duck herding.
A few of Pam's dogs do a 'soccer' demo. in between setting sheep.
Lynda shows how young dogs are started with Lark.
Pam and Tally work some sheep.
Rose's Jana doing the 'barrel race' course.

Jana keeps an eye on the sheep in the holding pen in between goes.
My Blair started off the demo. I was very proud of how he handled the sheep considering they were quite skitzy at first and heavy to the back fence where the other group of sheep were held.
We did an outrun & fetch, then attempted to 'pole bend' the white posts down the center line. (with not a lot of success) lol
The sheep wanted to bolt to me or to the holding pen.
At the second demo, John asked us to try shedding with the whole group of 10 sheep. I was able to get a split a couple times but no way to hold them apart for long in this small indoor arena. All of the above photos were by Rose & Lynda.
Earlier on the weekend, I spent a couple days down at Joe & Heather's in Arlington working my dogs on their awesome sheep in their big field. These are their ewes and new lambs.
Another pic of the flock. These are the sheep we'll see at their trial this August. It was awesome weather; shirtsleeves. Perfect for working dogs and sheep. Martha & Susan had also come by to work dogs so it was nice to visit with them too.

Hog Butchering(extreme graphics) Beware!

WARNING! These images are not for squeamish or faint of heart. Awhile back I was visiting some friends who had 4 hogs raised by their dad, butchered by a mobile unit. I have never seen anything like this and was very impressed with how quick, efficient, and professional these two fellows were. The hogs were treated with respect but dispatched without emotion. I think it is important that we 'city' people are occasionally exposed to real farm life and see where those chops & hams & bacon in Safeway really come from.
The hogs were shot in the stock trailer then brought out to the butcher truck to be cut and quickly bled out. I was very surprised at how little blood there was.
They were quickly skinned. Amazing SHARP knives these guys had.
Then cut in half and hung in the truck.

Two smaller ones from another farm already in the truck ready to go the the plant for cutting/wrapping. How nice to be able to buy a side knowing where it comes from, what it has been fed, how it is raised. My friend's Dad got his four in last Sept. and raised them at his farm over the winter. They sometimes got day old donuts that he got cheap from a bakery! lol

Heppner

Arriving at Marroni's on Thursday afternoon after an easy trip down. Looking up the farm from the front gate with LGD, Art coming to greet me. Lovely soak in the new hot tub and then Jeff grilled some yummy NY steaks with Dee's asparagus & mushrooms to go with.
Following the beautiful Columbia River east from Portland on Friday.
Picture in my mirror of Jeff's rig following behind me. We convoyed down with walkie talkies to keep in touch and chat. Grey day but very little rain.
The hills were green - only at this time of year before they burn off. It is one of the prettiest drives in the area. And NO mountain pass to climb.
The area is called 'The Gorge' and is mecca to wind surfers all summer. As the multitude of wind mills attest to. You can just see the train across the river and the highway on the WA side. It is also another pretty route to reach points east.
Norm & Vicki Close's cool new black rig pulled into the handlers' camping area just before Jeff. I parked across the road and gave my dogs a good run before heading into town.

Sunday morning main street Heppner. Those hills were covered in white SNOW the day I arrived! As were many cars in town. This shot is taken just in front of where I stayed. Everything closes up early & opens late in this little burg. Nice restaurant/bakery right beside this was where I had a great burger Fri. nite. Went back there on Sat. but they were all closed up by 6:40pm despite hours which state open til 7p. :-( Luckily I found a pizza place still open. Only downside of the weekend; huge lack of restaurants in Heppner(as well as accommodation).
This little site is the only motel in town. Right across the street from my RV park. Long haired, pony tailed proprietor is the Rev. in town too. But the streets are adorned in shamrocks & signs of the 'green' everywhere.
Here is my truck parked beside my rental 5th wheel. Great set up with wifi, electricity, heater, slide-out with sofa and arm chair. I took my laptop and a couple DVD movies to watch after dark each night. Dogs all spent the evening inside with me, then 3 slept in the topper. It was pretty cold.
At the trial field Sat. Brian Riccard chatting with course director, Frances Chai. Karen Mahoney and crew did an awesome job of organizing this trial. It rolled along smoothly with no hitches.
Helsley's and Close's are bundled up & well accustomed to the bitter cold wind we had all day Sat. I was lucky and got to spend quite a bit of time out of the wind scribing for Bill in his truck both days.
EB's Rye watching and waiting his turn.
Rye heads out on his outrun. Not a huge course but boy oh boy are the sheep ever challenging! Rye did well; top 5? I think.
Rye turning the post and lining them out for the drive.
Dorman dogs getting a run mid day in the hay field across the road from the trial field. Great place to run dogs; lots of room to hike way back up the hills.
My dogs again.
Handlers spent most of the day watching from their trucks on a nice viewpoint in the corner.
Karen M.'s dog also has a nice viewpoint. lol
Plus ready to drive KM home afterward. lol
Monday morning on the river in Boardman. The river was like glass with perfect reflections. I stayed in a motel there about 30 mins. from Heppner on Sunday night after the trial. I scribed til the end, then ran my dogs and made it to Boardman before dark with the time change. Next year I think I would stay there.
Dusty, Wyatt and Owen all went swimming. I had wet dog smell with Wyatt & Dusty in the cab all the way home to Olympia. But great place to stay. Nice quiet empty park along the river to run dogs. And restaurants that stay open longer than 7p.! And deliver to the motel!
Heading back along the Columbia. This is the dam coming into The Dalles. Not sure what snow capped mountain that is....Mt.Hood?
Safe back to Marroni's Mon. afternoon. I parked way off in a corner of the field so Art wouldn't be so tempted to come investigate my crew. It was a gorgeous warm day all the way back. More hot tub and a movie Mon. nite.
Then I had a nice easy trip home on Tues. Arrived home to big rain & wind storm but weather turned and has been gorgeous since.
It was a super great weekend & trial. One I will try to make again. I did not meet my goal of top 50 as Blair had RT's both days but not his fault. Just my bad timing and lack of experience reading these kind of range sheep. On Sat. a single split off right after his lift and bolted back to the set out trailers. I hesitated instead of flanking him immediately which cost our run. A little better on Sunday; another beauty of an outrun and lift, sweet pace and straight down through the fetch panels. Then another single separated and I failed to handle it well. So left the post again. But I was very pleased with Blair; he listened well and took every command, holding up his part of the team. However a good learning experience and hopefully won't make the same mistakes next year. Scott overheard my story about 'his name & mine in the same sentence'. So he made a point of coming up to me on Sunday to say that it wasn't the only time....as we both got RTs on Sat! Classy guy. He won with Don on Sat. and both dogs were high up there on Sun. I missed Karen Child's 96 run with Rock on Sunday but it must have been something to see. I did get to watch a lot of awesome dogs and good runs. Plus some incredible work by dogs to fix things going bad.
It was another gorgeous warm sunny spring day at McLeods' today(and more to come all weekend). I worked Jayne & Owen as they spent all weekend cooped up. Caught up with all the news with Rose & Margaret. I am planning to head to Arlington tomo. to work dogs at Joe Hayne's then back home on Sunday to help out at a demo. at Thunderbird Show Park for the LMQHA's annual Bazaar.

Last tune-up

Photo by Kristi: springtime at McLeods' 18c on Sat. so the new lambs got turned out in the pasture next door.
Cool dudes hanging out watching the girls have races. They are SO entertaining!
Photos by Jamie: hmm this is Susan & Ewan's adventure to Saskatchewan to pick up her new puppy. They got a ranch experience while there. Looks cool, doesn't it? Yes pun intended. LOL

While no where near as warm as last week nor as cold as Saskatchewan.... I worked all four dogs today at McLeods'. Blair will be running this weekend at Heppner & the other 3 will be cooped up in the truck so they all got some time. All were good dogs, especially Dusty. It is too bad he can't shine like that when in a strange place on different sheep. sigh.
It was sunny & dry but a very cold wind. I dug out and packed all my warm clothes in preparation for the forecast big change in mild weather to highs in the low 50'sF and almost freezing at night. Then this morning while out on the deck with my dogs, I noticed that my thermometer was barely above 8c/40F!! So I think Heppner's cold won't be that big a shock. I am actually 90% packed and shopped so not a lot left to do tomo. I am heading to Marroni's on Thursday & looking forward to a dip in the new hot tub after dinner. Then off to Heppner on Friday. I am very much looking forward to this trial as I have not run there before, just been as a spectator. I kind of gasped though, when I saw the run order; pretty much every top handler in the PacNorWest is entered. Scott and I are more or less the only Canadians......haha that has a funny ring doesn't it. Perhaps the only time my name would be mentioned in the same sentence as his. LOL And I guess I should include Pearse as a fellow canuck, even if he will be moving back the the US at some point. It will be great to visit with everyone and see some great dogs. If I get a score in the top 50 I will be thrilled.(out of 56) ;-) Bill is judging and I will get to scribe for him again so that will be a great learning opportunity.
I am taking my camera but if the weather is wet or too cold, it might not make it out of the bag.
hi ho hi ho off to heppner I go!

March is starting sweet

Worked Blair twice this week at McLeods'; he is taking my new softer & quieter whistles with as much accuracy as the old blasting ones. How 'duh' have I been. Thank you Patrick for being the one that finally 'got thru to me' from Blair and all the Dorman dogs..... We shall see how it flows onto the trial field at Heppner in a week. It has been so sweet to be working Blair more the last few weeks as he got short shift all this past year with me trying to train up the youngsters. What a PITA for my dogs to be 'city slickers' and not have sheep of their own to get every day work and real chore work. I sure miss Jamie living here as she offered big spaces for many of us local hobby trialers to get our dogs out on. But still so appreciative of Rose & Bruce McLeod's farm/working experience, otherwise we would have nothing in the Fraser Valley. I have high hopes for Blair this year if only I can step up as a handler to match his expertise as a very fine sheep dog. Same for my two youngsters, Owen & Jayne.