Brynn and the Kelpies

When we were at Dianne's Brynn got to see a couple of friends she knew well from her time spent in training with Dianne.   Two Kelpies, Sonnet and Roulette. 

It took a moment to recognize each other...then joy, happiness and silliness ensued!

Oh hi...do I know you?  

Wanna play?  I have a stick buried here from earlier.  I can dig it up.  

I can help!  Lets dig!

 It is here somewhere...I just know it is!  

I found it!  Where are you going?

I will let you hold it first!  

Mad stick dog pounce!

I am tired of racing around playing chase.   I would rather watch the sheep now.  

That is BORING! Chase me!  Pretend I am a  SHEEP!    

I am a Rouge sheep from Montana - with TEETH!  

Rouge Sheep Beware!

Uhhh! You are a scary sheep. 

 I am a mature Kelpie, I don't play with pretend sheep.  

Darn serious Kelpies.  Bahsheepbug. 

Mom, this stick is boring.  When can I pay with the sheep again? 

Descent into Obsession

I think I am riding the slippery slope from hobby herder to obsessed herder. Yes, I have succumbed to the magical pairing of handler and dog. I wake up at night muttering "away", "go-by". I don't count sheep - rather I see them dashing through the field being trailed by little black dog.

Since Bonnie is still to young to train seriously I have been laying awake at night plotting ways to steal Beth from John. Perhaps getting rid of him entirely - so I can have her all to myself. Maybe that is going to far. I wonder if I would get Beth in a divorce? Hmmm...that is a possibility. On second thought, I wouldn't be able to afford the cost of the classes without his income. *sigh* That means I need to encourage him to work MORE overtime! Yeeehaaa! That'll do it!

Given this obsession I am heading down to Fido's Farm for more practice this afternoon and tomorrow. We won't be able to go Saturday, since we have a fantastic class through PNW Border Collie Rescue we are attending at Packworks

I finally got the video put together of me working with Beth last week. As you can see we are still beginning but things are starting to come together. She is much further ahead than me and we are working on our communcation. We had a few wobbly moments but in general they turned out okay. I would love to hear what you think of it...and any suggestions on things I may be missing or need to focus on.



And finally, just for Sheepkelpie over at I Love Lucy & Friends I put together a video of one of my first lessons with Chris Soderstrom and her Kelpie Rosie from December. (Due to the snow storms we were in the arena working).



Enjoy!

Pursue Your Passion

Cathy Lester's artwork is wonderful. This one is my favorite. If my husband is reading this - John, the sweatshirt would be a perfect present.

Cathy Lester's artwork can be found here http://www.cathylester.com/

Today I tried to pursue my passion. My passion found me laying flat on my back gazing up at the beautiful blue sky with three sheep looking down at me.

Chris had me work her Kelpie, Rosie (who was the the second Kelpie in history to qualify for the Border Collie Handlers Association National Nursery Finals). Our new mission is to have me 'ungreened' when Bonnie is ready to start training. That will be about 6 months or so.

It is going to take me that long to learn how to walk again.

Chris had me working on circling (the line between the sheep and dog, stepping on it, off of it, using my flag to apply pressure and etc). Then we practiced 'sheep sandwich' - which is accomplished by walking backwards and keeping the sheep between the handler and the dog. This helps me learn how to control the pressure the dog is putting on the sheep and how to keep the sheep from running me over - among other things. This typically is a good training method - for people who can walk well backward.

I am not one of those people. Especially not in a field full of mole hills & holes. I need to remember, toe/heel, toe/heel, toe/heel. Not Heel...drag, whoops, hole, falling, oooofff, ooow...oy sheep schmutz :(

Good news: I found muscles in the back of my legs I had forgot existed. Bad news: All the padding on my hiney didn't protect my tail bone.

Tonight...Ibuprofen is my passion.

I did get some decent shots of John working Beth after I managed to hobble my way out to the ryegrass field. One of the guys Chris introduced us to today invited John to enter in a trial next weekend (just for practice!). THEIR FIRST ONE! Woohoo! (I am scared already for him)

John started thinking about it and kinda freaked out in the field. I am not sure what he is doing here - airplane imitation maybe?

Beth said "if you can be an airplane - I can be a bunny!"

The amazing two headed sheep made another appearance today. Beth, thankfully handled it with ease.

Beth was steady, controlled and her outruns have been beautiful.

She has been coming out of her shell and working on her "eye"




Sheep butt close up



Amazing to think that this little girl was a drug detection dog flunkee

Which way did she go?





They make such a good team. Until last year, John had never been around stock in his life. He was a 'city boy'. When you adopt a border collie - a whole lifestyle change sometimes comes in the door with the dog. John simply adores Beth.

Beth's passion is now John's pursuit. All because of love...that's pretty cool.