Checking In

Now that Spring is here I'm finding more time for the farm and less time for the computer!  My place isn't big, but having a more-than-full-time job makes for never enough hours in the day to get stuff done.  Plus, I have to do everything by hand...seeding fields, spreading fertilizer, mucking the barn, hauling hay and water...no big equipment here.  When Dad visits he is a tremendous help, but there is always a project or two we just can't quite keep up with.

I got Gabe back a few weeks ago and he is looking great.  He's essentially trained minus a shed, just needs mileage and to firm up his whistles.  His driving has really blossomed and he transforms into his mother when he gets behind his sheep: point him in the right direction and keep in touch with some steady whistles.  He is smooth, confident, and relaxed when driving, which is in 100% contrast to his fetching where he is excited, excited, excited!  Gabe's outrun came built-in with his breeding, he knows how to properly lift and pace, but his enthusiasm makes for a bullish lift and mindless flip-flopping behind sheep to bring them at breakneck speed.  So my goal is to make him feel his sheep while fetching like he does while driving.  I'd rather he did this then to always down him at the top and run him stop and go all the time.  I have many excercises I'm using to improve this and I can see that he *can* do it, so I'm not too concerned.  We'll just have to work on it.

He'd rather look at sheep than the camera.

When Livy first came back, I was working her twice daily as suggested by her trainer.  She is so incredibly keen to sheep that we thought that the work would settle her.  Well, I'm no Lyle, and I think I had a bad combination of bad sheep on bad terrain with bad pressure.  It became too much for her and she morphed into Jaws.  I was really upset and concerned about her, but when I took her to two different friends' places she made a liar out of me and looked fine!  So at home I took a week of teaching her to be a farm dog.  She needed to learn that just because we are out with sheep does not mean that she gets to work them.  The two of us hung out while they ate so she learned to relax around sheep that were also relaxed.  One sunny afternoon I took a blanket out and had a nap in the sun with her tethered to me.  I need to keep up with this, but I did see a difference in her after doing this.

Two weekends ago I took her back up to her breeder's for a puppy working weekend with her sisters.  Working their whole flock of very heavy ewes and lambs (80ish in number?) got her thinking.  Trimming them down to a more workable 20ish produced some nice work out of her where she was thinking on her way out and lifting nicely.  When she gets behind her sheep she is quite nice, feeling them, coming on directly, covering pretty well.  I am always riding the brakes with her but I am happy to see that.

Back home, Dad and I made some improvements to the back field so that it can be her main training field for now.  Where there were stones in front of the barn, we put down wood chips that are much easier on dog and sheep feet.  We also put up a temporary fenceline so that the sheep can not escape behind the barn or the burn pile while she's working.  The field has turned out to be a big success and I'm working her there almost daily.

Rae had a scary spell where she suffered a bad corneal ulcer.  It was almost a centimeter in length and I suspect that something got kicked up into her eye while she was working in the barn.  Or maybe Livy smacked her with one of the big sticks she likes to carry around while we're out walking the fields!  I had her on topical pain meds, antibiotics, and serum in hopes of healing it in time for the first trial of the season.  Serum (her own) is a common horse therapeutic in corneal ulcers because there are many healing factors that prevent further damage to the eye, so I figured why not pull out all the stops and try everything?!  Her injury happened 2 weeks before the trial, and for awhile I wasn't sure that I'd be able to run her.  She wasn't even allowed out for exercise for fear that something would poke her in the eye.  I re-stained her eye a few days before the trial and saw that the ulcer had healed, so got her out for one brief work before leaving.

I'm down to a more manageable number of sheep these days.  I sent a group to New Holland  before Easter and they did well for me.  The last group has just been weaned, so I think the endless lambing season is now over!  The grass is coming on thanks to the rain and sun we've been having.  Last night I did have to cover the vegetable garden as it was unseasonably cold.  Hopefully that was the last of the frost.

Oh, how could I forget that Rae celebrated her 10th birthday!

"Show me the cake!"