The Universe

New Whistle!

I am very excited about my new whistle. It is custom made to order by a master craftsman. It came in the mail yesterday. Today I tried it out in a lesson with my trainer. My trainer said the colors in the new whistle resemble the universe. Wow -  and I just liked the black background and cool, colored specks. But I will take the universe, thank you very much. And thanks to you Mr. Whistle Maker!

It's been a very busy weekend. We had overnight guests who landed due to the RESDA clinic at Shoestring Ranch. All was good there. The RESDA clinic was a mix of judging clinic and mini-lessons. I think everyone came away with something good from Colleen Duncan. Rime and I did a "judged" run so that folks could practice their RESDA scoring. We provided the example of the beginner RESDA Open run/typical RESDA Pro-Novice run. Oh well. Rime's outrun has improved a lot! From there on, we had some issues with him pushing the sheep too hard. But after his run we got some practice in working together being stock handlers. It's all good.

Today Rime and I had a lesson with our trainer. It's the first lesson we've had since early June. I can't believe how the summer has flown! Rime is showing a little bit of improvement but the problems are still mostly mine. I am very proud of our trainer. He recently did very well, winning Soldier Hollow. The approach that he is taking with me and my two dogs makes my head spin at times but it is also scary that it is starting to make sense. I have a lot of work to do on myself.  Today we only worked with Rime. Coal has a pulled muscle so I am forcing him to take it easy so he and Chiefie stayed home. Coal is not happy about this but it's a necessary step. I know how these soft-tissue things go - put the dog back to activity too soon and you will just end up "nursing" it longer.

What I am happy about: my new whistle, lessons with Rime, and a good weekend spent with friends and dog training.

What I am not so happy about: that Coal has an injury. Also on a lesser scale, the "new" Facebook is not particularly cool. I am going to try to spend more time on my blog, here, as a result, which is not a bad thing.

Behold, the universe!