Plans for 2011

There is nothing much going on here other than the cold and giant drifts of snow. So I am going to take this opportunity to share some of my plans for the year. I looked back at past new years post on my blog discussing my big plans with my young dogs. Funny this about this sheepdog trialing it never seems to go as planned. I maybe jinxing myself by actually putting it in writing. My friend Jerry thinks his blog is the blog of doom. If he writes about how much he is liking a dog or anything inevitably that whatever doesn't turn out for various reasons. So fingers here it goes.

Going to start the year off with a bang

Finally one of my dreams will be realized. I am going to pack up all my flying anxiety and the dogs and go to the Bluegrass Classic in Kentucky. Right now the plan is to fly to Chicago and then drive to Lexington. Another life long dream is to go to Kentucky. I grew up showing and training horses and always thought Kentucky was a magical place. My partner in crime for this trip will be Wendy Schmaltz. Looking forward to all the "adventures" we are certainly going to have. Meg will be running in the open and Craig will be running nursery. Three of Isla's pups will be running at the Bluegrass. I have asked Scott Glen to run Bracken for the spring in hopes of qualifying her for the nursery finals in September. Jenny Glen will be running Syn the Isla pup they own. 

Shortly after getting back from the Bluegrass I will be heading to North Dakota to the two trials there in the beginning of June. 

Rest of the summer is mostly local trials not much traveling until September. End of August will be the Canadian Border Collie Championships in Cranbrook, BC. After that is the big three trials in a row Solider Hollow. Meeker and the USBCHA Finals. Still trying to decide if I am going to all three as it will be a long time on the road. If you asked me right now in the cold January. Hell yeah I am going. Right now I would go on the road for weeks if it meant I could work and trial my dogs. This is the time of the year I miss it terribly. But I digress. While I won't be running a dog at Soldier Hollow or Meeker (Meg needs some more years under her belt first) I do want to go and watch and cheer my friends on or pull them off the ledge. Solider Hollow was too much fun last time I went and I have never been to Meeker before. After Meeker it is a short drive to the National Finals. So looking forward to that. 

So much fun ahead this year. 

Kennel is done!

Just in time for the blizzard

No Joe doesn't live in a kennel. I put him in there for comic relief.

For the first time ever I don't have to shift dogs around in the cold weather.
But we do have some digging to do outside.
My rams are in this pen somewhere

Awesome what wind and some snow can do.
My round pen took a beating.

Reliable recall

Joe wants to be a border collie so bad he has taken to running out with the sheep and chasing them. For now this is my solution.

OK, you can't tell very well in the video but Joe is tied to Risk just something I picked up from Cesar Millan and it worked out very well actually.

A boy and his dog

Making Progress

Strider continues to make progress on his rehabilitation. In the past week I have noticed him really trying hard not to disrupt the sheep with his movement. This is exactly what I was hoping he would learn. Another thing that is interesting is that the sheep really seem to know when he maybe isn't thinking properly. Sometimes he can walk right through them and another time he can't even get with in 20 ft of them. Just the other day he saw the fox running through his field and he jumped up and bolted right past the sheep to chase the fox and the sheep hardly lifted their heads. As it stands right now they really aren't buddy's I think the sheep tolerate him in their vicinity but only because he is the necessary evil. Yesterday it was bitterly cold and I watched Strider try to figure out how to get into the shelter without upsetting the sheep. he desperately wanted into the shelter out of the wind. So he would walk up to it and go around the back and then go around the other side and peek in. Then finally after 30 minutes he lowered his head and slowly walked in and lied down.  

Took this picture Christmas day

And this one today



This is currently my full time job. Watching  the guardian dog out the front windows. To bad it pays really badly because I am getting pretty good at it. When we are not home he is tied up to his fancy dog house.

Merry Christmas

Stand off

Strider doesn't really care for the foxes. There are two of them and they taunt him regularly. 

I however really like them unlike Jerry who would rather use them for target practice.

And this is what Joe did while I was taking the picture of Strider.

Clearly not ready to be left alone in the house.