Recalls and Recuperating

Border Collies in Action Gifts for Owners of Herding and Working Dogs - The Shepherds Pup Video

I've been recuperating from a bad flu this week. The time spent at home and not at work gave me lots of time to be with the dogs but no energy to do anything with them. I re-watched the great video, "The Shepherd's Pup" (see link above) for the zillionth time it seems, and got even more out of it than ever before. Spot and I are working on his recall. He's the first dog I've gotten who wasn't a baby puppy. So I'm a little concerned about him bonding enough with me so that once we do get on the sheep that he will listen to me. He is recalling pretty well with low level or no distractions. But put another household dog in the picture, or sheep within view behind a fence, and he may just not come back. We're workin' on it...a solid recall is my number one goal with him at this point. He's really a mush and wants to please. But then sometimes we all need more explanation or work before we get something down pat. There are lots of Spot's ancestors and relatives in that video, which was fun to see. Some of the resemblances are really striking.

Spot does seem to be bonding with me more and more. And he's doing lots of things that I ask, now, that he was reluctant to do, at first. He runs up and down the ramp into the pickup now, for example. I still take him on lead to be sure he does it right. After all we are trying to save those young joints from wear and tear!

Recovering from the flu is just one day at a time. I am thankful to be getting better each day but I have to be careful not to overdo it. I can see where a person could get in physical trouble really fast with this bug. Stay well, everone!