Play Day

Terry and 4 dogs going to town for some cream for our coffee in the early morning.  The only picture I took before my battery went dead.

No photos (except one) because I took my camera with me ...this time with a dead battery. Boo Hiss.  But, a fabulous day was had even though it was cold and windy all day.  Task Farms had a "play day" with instinct tests and licensed trial tests for all breeds. Terry and I took turns judging.  There were some nice dogs.  The pot luck was amazing.  Betsy made a soup to die for and there was tons of food. No one went hungry, that's for sure.
In the morning Terry and I split up all the goats and sheep into pens and different arenas for testing and for those who just wanted to work their dogs.  Those goats are test in themselves!  Yoko worked with Terry's Nik here and there as a brace.  It is good to let her work with other dogs.  Terry's Nik is an amazing pen dog. Terry didn't know that Yoko tried to heel him twice in his Carthartt overalls. She didn't recognize him in his thick orange overalls with the hood pulled over his head in the morning. Bad Yoko.  I try to keep Yoko in the thick of things.  Even thought she is 3 yrs. of age now, I'm still socializing her.  I like to throw her into as many new situations as possible.  So it's very rare that she stays tied on a cable.
After all was said and done, Yoko and Kilt put all of the stock away for the night.  The 40 or so goats wanted to stay out in the field with the beautiful green grass to eat.  They were a real TASK for the girls.  All the sheep, Penny the jenny, and Goat were out in the field.  The girls had to go into the wash and nip noses and butts to get everyone moving in the same direction.

Terry said, "This is what it is all about.  Sure beats trialing."  And you know what.....he is absolutely right.  My dogs had more fun today than they ever could at a trial. Plus, they got to move stock in and out of small pens, work with other dogs, handle cantankerous goats, and softly move about 20 lambs.  Very cool.  And, we got to visit with old friends we hadn't seen in awhile and met some new ones, too. Way fun for me and way fun for all 3 of my Border Collies. I'm tired and thankfully, the Border Collies are tired, too.  We will all sleep tonight. :0)