Green Grass

We do finally have some green grass coming up. There have been a few rain systems that made their way through the area and dropped some rainfall...that combined with some warmer days has made the grass (and dandelions) grow. We and our sheep are very thankful for all of that! Well, except for the dandelions in my yard which are going to have to go...there is still an overall drought but at least we have had a little bit of relief.

There has not been a lot else to blog about. A ewe that we bought last fall, one of two who were said to "maybe be bred" but we didn't know which one, dropped a pretty ewe lamb a few weeks go. So far, she is good. I don't take lamb pictures as they have only brought us bad luck in the past. People will have to take our word for it, for at least a while, that this lamb is darn cute.  :) She's getting to the playful stage, and while it's too bad that she doesn't have any lamb buddies to play with, she seems to be finding plenty of ways to play on her own.

I have been working my dogs when I can, but not enough and certainly not at enough distance, for Ryme and Coal to be at a trial standard. I had Ryme entered in a PN run but scratched him; he is just not ready. Coal could be ready but we'll have to walk to the post to find out. Both need more distance work and that means I have to put in the time and miles to make it happen, which is the ongoing dilemma. Spot and I are just trying to figure each other out, still; I have been working him some, but will give it some more time.

I don't even have a photo yet for March, to use in the blog. I guess maybe I am afraid to take green grass pictures as much as I am afraid to take lamb pictures!

Sojos Lamb & Sweet Potato Treats

Our February review for Chewy consisted of a Sojos product, Lamb and Sweet Potato Flavor grain-free treats. I have never fed any Sojos products, so I was interested in seeing what they were like. It was nice of Chewy to offer us something different to try.

The consistency of the treats, which you can see in my picture above, was almost like that of a homemade dog cookie that you bake from scratch. The dogs liked them really well, including Ryme. He is my usual initial taste tester, as he will spit out anything unfamiliar. Ryme liked the Sojos treats from the very first one and did not spit it out. The other dogs liked them too!

The cookies were small so they'd be great for just small treats (I use them at crating time, mainly) without going overboard on too many calories. They are a nice size and they seem to be very palatable. These Sojos treats are grain-free and the total ingredient list is very short and all real stuff: garbanzo bean flour, lamb, sweet potatoes, canola oil, and eggs. No chemically-sounding stuff. They are GMO-free and made in Minnesota.

I would definitely buy these again for the  boys and the price is reasonable. I think they are about $6.99 on the Chewy website and probably comparable elsewhere.

Mid February, Already!

Wow, it is mid-February, already; President's Day weekend and Valentine's Day have passed us by...

Ryme had a life changing event last Friday; he got neutered ("tutored" is the word I have been using within earshot of him so he does not take it so hard that he lost his manhood).  My vet's office handled everything beautifully, as always, and Ryme is doing great post surgery. I am looking forward to him being able to work again here in a week or so. He is my main man for ranch chores. I am hoping that tutoring will enable him to be even a little bit more relaxed in his view of the world. I would be thrilled with ten percent better but there is always the hope for more. If not, I won't have really done him any harm and fewer male hormones around the house will be a good thing.

Ryme moves our Scotties, a couple of weeks ago

 

 

I spent the President's Day weekend auditing a Jack Knox clinic up at the Hopland university research and extension center.  My brain is full to the brim, but I am really enthusiastic about putting into practice some of the things I saw at the clinic, with all three of my dogs. I have audited this clinic several times now and every time it has been very well worth it.

Pineapple Express

We're having what is called a Pineapple Express! Though it sounds like a juicy cocktail, it's actually a term for a warm, very wet storm on the Northern California coast. The water is very welcome although most of us had forgotten where we put our rain gear, and needed to go searching for it.

We have not had this much rain in about fourteen months (December 2012). No wonder there is a drought. 

Ryme is showing us his delight in having water to run and play in. With some sun next week we may get actual grass started for the sheep!

Ryme in the flooded pasture

Rain, Glorious Rain

We had RAIN on Sunday, glorious, delicious rain! It was so welcome and almost totally unexpected. It rained lightly almost all day. It's not enough to end our drought, but it certainly was nice! Today I noticed that certain areas along the road sides are starting to green up as a result.

There are a few more days in our forecast with showers and rain predicted. I keep praying that it is true...

Just so we have a visual of how things should look...here are a couple of photos from last year with green grass. We just need more of this!

I Think We Have a Winner

We've been doing product reviews for Chewy.com for a while now. This time, they sent us Fromm Chicken with Carrots and Peas Recipe treats for dogs, to check out.  The boys have taste tested a few flavors of the Fromm treats in the past and I know it is good stuff. We use Fromm dog food on a regular basis, too.

Ryme is my firewall taste tester. He is the most picky of the bunch. Normally he will eat anything eventually but not before it is rejected, spit out, and then examined thoroughly. Coal and Chief will eat anything and Spot is not too far behind as long as he is not distracted by something shiny or wooly.

But this time we have discovered Ryme's favorite of the Fromm treats. These chicken and carrot treats did not get rejected at all, in fact Ryme took his experimental treat on the first try and ate it and wanted more. That is saying a lot, for a dog whose (up til now) most favorite treat was a lowly Milk Bone.

I think we have a winner!

The boys liked these grain-free treats so well, that I bought another package, the next time I was at the feed store.

What You Wish For

There's an old saying: "be careful what you wish for". It can mean that you might unintentionally get things that you thought you wanted but didn't really want or like, once you got them.

On the flip side, it's good to wish for things in the sense of working towards small goals that lead to progress in something.  I've become a big believer in chunking down a large problem or goal into mini bundles that can be accomplished and marked off with metrics. Love those metrics; can you tell I work in the corporate world?

For a while now, I've been saying that I will "look forward to just walking into the field and working Spot". That is, I would wish to be able to just open the gate, step in and work my dog without a lot of prep. For months we have been sorting off the puppy sheep and setting out hay for them to hold them. We would close all the extra gates in the pasture so that the sheep couldn't outwit the puppy and run away. Sometimes it would take me 20-30 minutes and a lot of walking in order to be able to set this all up for Spot in order to work him. Other times my training buddy would help me by doing some of this prep too, which was much appreciated.

I can now say that I can walk into the field and work Spot with no prep. It's exciting to be able to say that! I can open the gate, down him, and take off his leash and we can work the whole group of sheep. I'm not going to do it every time as I don't want to overly work our fresher sheep that are intended for our more advanced dogs. But maybe once a week on a week night when I am pressed for time, I will just walk into the field and work Spot. Tonight was one of the first times I have tried this (I tried it last week too). It's a small step on our road to progress.

Sometimes my job is very monotonous. I talked to my boss about the monotony of it. His advice to me was to "celebrate your successes" as much as you can, to break up the tedium. I can't say that working Spot is anything approaching tedium (it has been more of a roller coaster ride or a runaway train at times!) but certainly it is good to always celebrate your successes. So here's a celebration of being able to just open the gate and work my dog. Whew!