End of May..

..and we are still getting snow....sigh

Update pictures on some of the pups

...more to follow as they get sent to me.
Wow I dont know much about Dock dogs but the pictures of Colt look like he's having a blast!

Balance, key element to herding

Back from the Viklund clinic....3 Great days spent on sheep and with 'white board' discussions as well being amongst a wonderful group of enthusiasts.
Sure cant beat getting away for a wkend like that.
BALANCE... key to stock work...if you and your dog 'truely' understand this essential element then things fall into place rather nicely be it doing obstacle work or driving. I spent the wkend in the large round pen with Sting and Dare working on this. As a handler I was letting the girls come up abit short on balance and allowing them to do so. I needed to see the balance point with more precision than an 'area' and help the girls find & keep balance. Sting found and held the line better than her sister Dare. Perhaps because Sting has had more time on stock and isnt as pushy as Dare...might feel it easier.
Once Dare settles into a thoughtful pace she is on the money.
As a Breeder , I couldnt be any happier with the work ethic of the dogs bred by me who were also attending the clinic with their owners....
JR & Carolyn, Meg & Jackie, Ralf, Evo & Terry...WOW , great jobs you've done with your dogs ! !
Now to find 'balance' at home with our busy lives and fit training in.
Training sessions at home for me will start working the sheep in smaller groups so the dogs have to be more precise. As well will work on the different balance exercises ie ) wheel
ASCA trial first wkend in July....gosh can we be ready in time for the once a year trial ?

Derby x Desi kids..

House Fairies

Waiting on a phone call to be returned...pet peeve of mine....hate waiting for return calls when I've got pressing things that need to be done.
All main meals cooked and with a little prepping left to do with the fresh vets/fruit just before I leave for herding clinic. Electric fence up for the sheep
to graze in a different location...hope we get a little rain so I can spike in the ground another graze so family can move them while I'm gone. It was worth picking up extra bundles of electra netting a few years ago to have set up when the ground wasn't like cement.
Did manage to get a few field meals in the freezer, dandelions taken care of and most of the grass cut on our farm...need to get across the road to cut the neighbors as well in town to cut the training building yard. Good Neighbor fence is up and I don't have to keep reminding my neighbor to 'not' let his dog use
my side for his personal potting space....ended up digging up where his dog destroyed the grass and need to landscape 'something' in its place.....have shrubs to remove where a combination of dog /winter damage has toasted them. Have bags of top soil, manure and composting material sitting in a corner...looks a little shabby until I can get a flower/shrub bed done up. Doing a 'no dig bed' my sister Deb (the avid gardener) suggested....easy to do....put layers of composting material, overlap thick layers of newspaper and top soil/manure...keep moist and let nature do the work....you dont need to spade up your bed ...hence the name.
However I did dig up some to get it started...now make time to finish the first part of the project.
Need a day to process my flock of sheep...trim hooves, deworm and band tails.
Need a couple of days to finish the outside painting at the training building.
Need a couple of days to bath/groom dogs and get rid of the winter undercoat that needs to finish coming out.
The house fairy hasnt shown up...you know the one where magically the house / laundry gets caught up.....

Things are hectic but enjoying it :)

Been taking 1/2 hour last couple of days to graze sheep in various corners on the farm that arent worth fencing off....so coffee cup in one hand & stock stick
in the other ( more or less to lean on ) and Quade...we bring the flock of 28 through a 3 foot gate with the idea not to be a hurry otherwise lambs
get seperated from moms and panic on the wrong side of the fence. It's basically patience work to gather, come through a small opening and let them graze with the dog holding the sides...now if I had a lap top I could really multi task and catch up on emails while enjoying the sunshine/outdoors.
All water tanks filled for the wkend since I'm on a stretch of night shifts. Neighbor delivered my hay bales to patch me through this spring. I need to make time
to set up my electric fence over at the other neighbors to graze some patchs that have not been grazed/cut for hay for literally years. Will park the stock trailer over there to put the sheep up at night since I'm still concerned about coyotes. Project for next week while I'm doing up meals for the herding clinic as well the freezer for field meals since seeding has started and I'm gone over the long wkend.
Yesterday made time to get Jinx on mats after her bath...wanted to use her as my demo dog for classes since she is good with both people and strange dogs.
Certainly made her day to get off the farm with the extra attention. Thrilled to see she didnt miss abeat with her Obedience work with all the time off from doing much in that dept for pretty much a year. Bonus will be able to practise her long sits/downs with a group of dogs without driving long distances.
Have a good bunch of class dogs that are coming along great...would love to have them help with demo's for the Open House later this summer ( when I'm done with renos' etc ) as well would be fun to do something outdoors at the building for the towns 100th birthday celebration since we are just a block off the main drag.

Viklund clinic sneaking up on me...

Only got the short end of the training building painted, including the back steps...want to replace those later this year but at least with 2 coats of fresh paint not look so 'weathered'. Started painting the outside foundation a darker grey that matches up with the shingles...hope to be finished by the wkend. Find I'm still juggling farm stuff with getting things fixed up at the building. Yesterday was spent re-seeding grass to the bare spots around the farm caused by wear and tear by both livestock and machinery. Finished cutting the neighbors farm yard....'poor man's silage' for the sheep to stretch the hay....what the sheep dont eat gets fed to the pigs. Managed to get potatoes and corn in the garden...need to pick up peas to plant today, with the rest to follow sometime next wk.
Viklund clinic sneaking up on me in a big hurry and I havent worked the younger dogs lately- yikes...wanted to be as solid as I could in what foundation training we have so we can work on new skills at the clinic. Am thinking of bringing 2 dogs and splitting the 3 day clinic between them. Will decide next week 'who' and get them bathed/trimmed up.

Little Brooke...

Well Mother's Day was spent in typical fashion...get caught up on yard work. The garden is worked so now it's just a matter of getting a few things in the ground. Usually potatoes , peas and corn get planted first with the rest following when it warms up a tad more.

Had a private lesson with a family who own a St.Bernard and young children. Leash pulling and mouthing the main issues. The kids caught on
right away with the lessons and made great strides with the basic's. Great temperament for a family companion ...just needed the criteria set
a little higher on what is expected. Family sent home with homework with return visit planned in a wk or so. Kids are interested in doing agility so
we'll see if one Saint can fold up and get through a tunnel on next visit.

Little Brookie coming along with chores twice a day...thinks she's a big girl helping Quade move the sheep off the feed and going with him on his flanks.
The sheep will turn off of a dog so she really thinks she's doing 'something' when the lambs on outer edge turn in. She's too young to train formally
on stock ....but until she is old enough will let her hang with us at chores until she starts getting into 'trouble'.

btw...I was very creative with her call name....looks like Brooke/Brookie is going to stick.

Happy Mother's Day

When God Created Mothers

In honor of All Moms on Mother's Day - Words filled with wisdom By Erma Bombeck
When the good Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of "overtime" when the angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."
And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order? --
She has to be completely washable, but not plastic; Have 180 moveable parts . . . all replaceable; Run on black coffee and leftovers; Have a lap that disappears when she stands up; A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair; And six pairs of hands...
The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands . . . no way."
"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord. "It's the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have."
"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.
The Lord nodded.
"One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, 'What are you kids doing in there?' when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say, 'I understand and I love you' without so much as uttering a word."
"Lord," said the angel, touching His sleeve gently, "Come to bed. Tomorrow . . ."
"I can't," said the Lord, "I'm so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick . . . can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger . . . and can get a nine year-old to stand under a shower."
The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. "It's too soft," she sighed.
"But tough!" said The Lord excitedly. "You cannot imagine what this mother can do or endure."
The angel asked, "Can it think?"
"Not only think, but it can reason and compromise," said The Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told You You were trying to put too much into this model."
"It's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear."
"What's it for?" asked the angel.
"It's for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness and pride," The Lord replied.
"You are a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber.
"I didn't put it there," he said.

Happy Mother's Day Mom - You are the Best.

This and that...

Tried snowing with the rain yesterday...still ice in the water pails in the morning.
Slipped to Lloyd yesterday to meet up with Kathy Kimmel new owner of 'Ash' aka
Caitland Kicking Stones ( Kick'n Stones ) a Johnny Read song that seems to suit him.
Quick visit with Kathy and Jackie before heading home. DH bringing home a trailer of pigs to grow out for fall butcher for family/friends. Cant beat home grown meat for the freezer...as well a good place to get rid of kitchen/garden stuff ( better than any garburator ) ...and for some strange reason...little kids are totally
fascinated with them.
Baby Brooke missed her brother abit the first night.
Came home from work to finding her riding the quad with DH harrowing the yard...she seems to think 'he' is her best buddy. Her butt is in constant motion...a little Ms Sunshine.
Yard work continues at the training building...people stopping in to check things out as they walk by, so a few impromptu tours given.
A couple of grade 9 students asking ( begging ) to be considered for work experience
( school program where students shadow on the site jobs in areas they may be interested in) Said sure would love to have them.
A few wks ago was asked to come in to one of the schools during Career wk and do a presentation...told them I would love to but felt I wasn't prepared
for this year with still things on my plate but to please book me in for next year's Career week.
Have students booked in from an hours drive both east and west of here by word of mouth...so being off the beaten track in this corner of the world does
have a few advantages...when it comes to offering a location to train.
So things are coming along slowly but surely.

Cattle out to pasture now...

Cattle processed and hauled out to pasture this past wkend.
1.5 inches of rain made for pulling the loaded truck/trailer out of the mud
by tractor with a few of the loads.
Finished cleaning corrals, barn cleaned out and sheep shed repaired after the high winds lifting the roof up.( note to self to get it painted asap to get a few more years out of an already tired building & price out metal sheets for roofing material )

Youngest son Wyatt traveling through with his big Hydrovac truck ( oilfield ) spending the night before heading 'home'to Swift Current from Fort Mac. Never seems to be a long enough visit when he passes through. Next trip through will be dropping his 2 dogs to babysit for a month while he is up north working in camp.

Terry and Ralf having a great show wkend not only placing in the group but winning it over the wkend in S'toon.

Note from Carly on the crew out in B.C. getting together for an Aussie pot luck...
' 16 aussies, 13 Caitland bred, or closely related (four of my pups and one of Jackies) and then 3 others. Not ONE grumble, not ONE fight, not ONE raised lip...and four of the dogs were intact boys, just awesome temperaments on everyone. Also, what a handsome group of dogs!!! We had an absolute blast, I wish you could have been here to see all your "kids"

Sounds like a great time and a hoot to see all the pictures up on Face Book of the 'Aussie party' , hats off to all the owners on 'time invested' in socializing & training their sidekicks....pays off in dividends.
This past wkend a classic example.