Tuesday Is...

It's Tuesday, and that means being in the moment. This is a hard one for me. The dogs find it easy but my brain is always whirling around ahead, behind or anywhere but focuses on what is in front of me. I am trying to train it to be otherwise. I tried today to just notice the small things, like textures of wet pavement (it's raining).

No sheepdog work today, but last night we had a pretty good session. I was pushing it trying to get the chores done, work the dogs, and get on the way home before darkness and rain came in.  Right now I have about an hour or just a little more to work dogs on week days, with sunset approximately 5:15 PM this week, plus or minus.

Without a stock handler, I first tried to put some sheep out on hay for Spot, to try out my system.
Then I would hurry off with Spot to a point where I could send him on an outrun before the sheep ran home. This worked ok, not as great as with a stock handler and dog but it was better than nothing. When I switched to Cap (after getting more hay!), I was able to send Cap on some of the longest gathers that I have done at that particular field. I was pretty stoked, and didn't care that it had started to rain! Cap was pretty stoked, too. I could send him around some of the vernal pools which made him kick out naturally and get wider and deeper without me having to do anything...which is a huge bonus. Doing our lesson homework, as best we can!

We won't be able to work for a few days due to a big storm coming through. I'm glad to have a little success though and something to look forward to.

Ryme got to play cleanup and put all the sheep away. He was super happy! You can see it on his face!

Two happy older dogs;  Ryme (10) in the front and Coal (12) in the back.