UC Davis Picnic Day

Bid and I will be participating in an invitational sheepdog trial at the 94th annual UC Davis Picnic Day. It should be fun.

http://picnicday.ucdavis.edu/

New Lambs

Since it was a pretty day with lots of sunshine, I decided to get some photos of the new lambs that we have purchased recently. We added two ewe lambs and two wether lambs. This white one is a little Dorper x Barb ewe lamb.

This black and white lamb is a hefty girl, Dorper x Targhee, and half of a set of twins. She is definitely the feistiest of the bunch and was the hardest to photograph out in the field. I finally resorted to putting the sheep in the holding pen in order to get a decent photo of her. She may turn out to be a handful to work with the dogs when she gets a little older.

This guy is a Dorper x Barb wether. He is already a lot bigger than his mom.

Finally, the cutest of the bunch, a little Dorper x Barb wether. He has a matching white spot on either side.

This girl is not a lamb, but a yearling Dorper x Barb ewe that we bought last year. I couldn't resist getting her photo, though, since she is appears to be in desperate need of a springtime sheepish spa treatment!

The weather has been fantastic this weekend (although we really could use some more rain) and we enjoyed lessons with the trainer yesterday. Bid is doing some awesome work and I am so pleased with him and proud of his ability to grow in his work at his age. Coal is entering the Terrible Twos, so his handler needs to "ramp up" yet again. Just when I was having fun!

Bid Photos - Sonoma Wine Country Sheepdog Trial

http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n91/squark_ansel/2008SDT/SonomaSDT/Bid/

A Dear Friend, Jed

A dear friend, Jed, passed away completely unexpectedly over the past weekend. Jed was the kindest, sweetest, most hardworking man you would ever meet. He always had a grin and a greeting for me, and never an unkind word for anyone. He loved his dogs, walked them every day and was learning to run his special dog in agility. We are all stunned and shocked by this news and our love goes out to his wife and our wonderful friend, Connie.

Exhausting Fun

It has been two years since we have experienced the local Sonoma Wine Country Sheepdog trial, and over the weekend I realized how much I missed it during the 2007 hiatus. While we were hanging out putting our sore feet up on a bale of hay, a friend commented to me that it was "exhausting fun" and I totally agree with that conclusion. There were many "one for the book" story opportunities that came up over the weekend while I was running scores and doing other "gofer" jobs as they arose.

Friday's runs included the Nursery #1 and Pro-Novice /Nursery #2 runs. The sheep were fresh range ewes and while not unreasonable, they did not tolerate a lot of pressure from dogs but especially not from the humans. I would love to have the opportunity to work this kind of sheep more often.

Bid and I got a score of 35 points in P-N; it's not our best but I was pleased to get 'round the course and to have the opportunity to complete it. He ran out beautifully and brought me the sheep, which is all we can really ask. If you think about it, these darn dogs are amazing, in that they will keep doing this over and over again in different situations that are completely unknown to them. I made a major error, giving him the wrong whistle on the driveaway to the first set of panels. Like the good boy that he is, Bid took that whistle and did what I asked him to do.

Later in the afternoon on Friday a couple of ewes decided that they were being pressured way too heavily by a young dog and they jumped over the fence past the setout crew and over into the neighbors' field. Luckily they did not jump a second time, out of the neighbors' fence. We drove around to block the driveway, meanwhile the setout crew and the Irish judge worked furiously on the recovery operation, which was a complete success despite the light rainfall that had set in after the lunch break. The ewes were soon returned to the proper field and the trial resumed.

By Sunday afternoon the sheep had clearly taken total control of the trial, and were running a lot faster. All of the dogs who competed late in the trial had to show complete composure and control in order to get any kind of a decent run at all.

The judges and crew were all sweethearts to work with and it is a pleasure and a privilege to be involved in helping with a trial with the caliber of dog work that was presented in the Open class.

Sonoma Wine Country Sheepdog Trial

The Sonoma Wine Country Sheepdog trial (USBCHA) begins this Friday and runs through Sunday. Bid will be running in Pro-Novice on Friday.

http://www.sonomasheepdogtrial.com/

More Memories of Special Dogs

This was a rough week for special dogs, apparently. We got word that Augie's brother, Tom, (the white-faced dog pictured with Augie in the March 15th post) also passed away this past week. This was in addition to his full brother, Paddy (Chief's father). Tom was well suited to his owner, who described him as a "big gentle border collie" who was loved by all who met him.

Unrelated of course, a very special Samoyed named Jake, also passed away this week. We got word of Jake's passing from herding friends. Jake was a great ambassador for his breed, as well as for AHBA. We feel very fortunate to have met Jake, and to watch him work livestock, and also to experience his gentleness around a crowd of people.

All of these adored dogs were 13, 14, or almost 15 years old.

Here is Augie as a younger dog displaying the spirit that I would like to remember all of these great dogs by.