a blog about Kilt and her kids plus Trouble our JRT mascot.

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Sequim, Washington, United States

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Busy few weeks

Dog report:

I had fun taking the dogs to Fido's for a day of sheepherding. Trouble and Kilt weren't too impressed sitting in the truck all day long. That's a long walk from the parking lot to the back field over and over again. But, the nice thing about dogs is their unconditional devotion. Even though Kilt and trouble got to do nothing all day, they didn't complain.Yoko was an idiot for her run. Yoko is either on or off, usually no middle of the road for this girl. She hates that the sheep are set on grain. She started her lift nicely, but as soon as she saw they weren't going to lift their heads, slam, bam, thank-you mam. She has a very low tolerance for stuff like that. She ended her run by holding them on a gate where i couldn't see her. I had to use our time walking over to that area and giving her a verbal reprimand.

Champ was a little 'stupid' in that he wasn't sure how to move the afternoon grazing lambs. Just a lack of experience, so I helped him. I asked him to move them quickly up the field to the second drive. I even encouraged a heel bite. After that, the lambs listened to him and he was able to do a nice line without a word from me to the second panel. His single was a thing of beauty, and penning, no problem I did some training in the PN field (non-comp) before going to the open field. I did notice he was more relaxed after being able to run once. He didn't see the sheep from the post. I knew that. I sent him (telling him to put on his glasses...haha), stopped him midway, and redirected him. He took it nicely. But, i heard a lamb jumped him at the top from a person at the top(lamb wasn't interested in leaving the grain). He lost a little confidence on the fetch. The field was a couple feet high in grass, so the handler can't see the sheep or dogs in quite a few areas. So, I left to assist him. I am well aware that my dogs don't get out on different sheep or have their own sheep to be really competitive. But, once in awhile we shine. And, as long as I enjoy trialling and they enjoy trialling we will take the losses with a few triumphs. Just as long as we are all having a good time :0)

I am looking forward to camping next to and with Bonnie Block at Bandon by the Sea for the next sheepdog trialling adventure. I only put the dogs in open on the second day plus the jackpot. And, Laura was kind enough to put Champ in PN (non-comp) for Sunday. I am just trying to get Champ experience on different sheep and terrains. I hope we will have enough time to ride horseback on the beach while we are there!

People report:

My son is coming up from Roseburg tomorrow to pick up his Blazer that has been parked in my woods for about 6 months. A small tree fell on it, but being a Blazer, no definite damage has been done. haha I had a K5 Blazer at one time in my life. I loved that car, until my son thrashed it. LOL I have always thought my son and were exact opposites, but maybe, not so. He is working hard on his 100 acres in Roseburg, building a garage, laying gravel on the road, tractoring where he plans to build allowing it to settle, etc. The one thing that is particularly scary to me is that he has poison oak on his property. Thankfully he isn't as deathly allergic to it as Wayne and I are! I haven't taken my dogs up on his property because I know they will carry it on their coats :0(


And, as soon as I get home from Bandon, Wayne comes for a week. He is only out on disability until May 16th, so he is flying up here from May 5th to May 14th. Unfortunately for him, I will be at an Aled Owen clinic mid week. Who knows....may be some nice down time for him, because as you know I don't spend a lot of "down" time :0)  He and a helper have painted almost the entire interior of the Green Valley house and exterior. He has been working as hard as one can with a 28% ejection fraction. He understands, if he doesn't take care of his health, he will die. I think he sees the light that he is not invincible. He says I have a "hippie' mentality. I am grateful for that mentality. Now, if I could switch his mindset to one of gratitude, life would be sweet. I guess he will have to figure that one out for himself.






Planning to do another Kentucky Derby party here at the house the first Saturday in May while Wayne is here. I did one last year and it was lots of fun. My Pop always drew horses for all of us even if we couldn't be together for the derby. We always celebrated the Kentucky Derby with mint juleps with Pop singing My Old Kentucky Home. Great memories.

Hoping the weather will be cooperative so Wayne can kayak while he is here. I'm pretty sure he has never done that in his life. It is such a "zen" experience. I know he will enjoy it.

That's about it on the home front. Hope you all are enjoying Spring and happy trialling. See ya out there.


Violet green swallow





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