Monday, September 6, 2010

Labor Day Weekend 2010

The dogs and I have been relishing a three-day weekend with me away from the office and having time to rest and recuperate. And work dogs! We've put in three solid days of dog work, two of them at the home field working with a setout partner/dog (thank you, thank you, you know who you are!) and the middle day working at a friend's place to get that "away from home" effect, especially for Rime. I am hoping we see improvement and progress from the three consecutive days of scheduled training and handling efforts.

The Labor Day weekend ritual in the past few years has consisted of frequent checks at the computer and refreshing the Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Classic scores page. Congratulations to all who have made it to today's final round! As it's not over until it's over I can't congratulate the winner yet but they are all champions to have made it to this day.

Last night I finally got a chance to watch the documentary, "Sweetgrass". It is really worth watching and savoring if you are at all interested in the sheep industry, ranching, and the American West. Oh yes -- and the occasional border collie plays a role too -- but really the movie is all about the sheep and the family that cares for them. Even in the rough moments, the care shines through. I imagine it was really impressive in the movie theater on the big screen with all of the panoramic photography. But even on my old TV I really enjoyed the film. Put it in your Netflix queue!

Once again I was lucky enough to have a friend taking pictures of me working with Rime. This time we were at a friend's place where we went to get Rime working 'away from home'. The sheep were lovely white (yearling?) dorper/dorset crosses who are much bigger and stouter than the sheep we normally train on. It is great to get Rime (and Coal too) out on sheep that they don't know and to work in a different place. I just wish we had more places to go. Rime turns 21 months old today so I am feeling bits and pieces here and there of his maturity starting to kick in and that his work is starting to come together. Anyway here are the latest and greatest up to date photos of Rime learning a bit of an assisted drive and also of us working on a bit of pace and feel on his sheep. Enjoy.







Photos by T. Tucker.

1 comment:

livin life said...

Nice....very nice! Looking good...and starting to drive! I'm glued to Soldier Hollow as well.