Great Britain Travel Blog 2

Friday, May 10, 2019

What an amazing day!
7:00 a.m., we went with Glyn on his morning feeding rounds to check on the ewes and lambs and to feed concentrates. Cap, his older trial dog went with us. I fell in love with Cap, a wise old soul who is very adept at catching lambs! Cap is a big rough coated tri color dog with a split face. He gets to go on the morning rounds because he becomes " annoying" by howling if he is left behind in the morning.  I think it also mainly because he knows the job and is a perfect working partner who only rarely needs to be told what to do...most of the time he was already doing what was needed before it was asked of him. Truly a great dog and one to appreciate.

The three of us plus Cap went on the side-by-side through several fields of sheep, up and over all of their farms and up on the mountains with groups of ewes with twins, ewes with singles, etc. The Berwyn Mountains were nearby and the two peaks were called (in folktale lore) Berwyn and Bronwen (two giants).  The views were beyond amazing, and the numbers of sheep, beyond my comprehension. Field after field of ewes and lambs, on a beautiful crisp and sunny morning.

Cap

It is a family farm that has been held for generations, through good times and bad, and hard winters as well as mild ones... the sheep are mostly Welsh Mountain ewes, and some are crossed with South Country Cheviot, or Charolais, or Texels, to produce butcher lambs. There are a few crossed with NCC or BFL. Cap was amazing and helped to catch several lambs that needed treating for this or that. A piece of heaven, up on top of the world...wow, just wow! When we'd finished all the ewes and lambs, our last stop was at a field with 28 yearling Welsh Mountain rams. They were fabulous. A few will make the grade to stay, some will be sold as rams, and the few not so good, for butcher.

To be continued...

Great Britain Travel Blog 1

In May, before we left for Great Britain, I was scurrying around  like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to do all the impossible things before we departed. I told myself, "my life is too complicated...I need to simplify things when I get home! " Little did I know how that was going to apply during Summer 2019, but in the mean time I really want to record at least the beginnings of our travel adventures to Wales and England. I loved it! I had a wonderful time. I can't wait to go back. I am a very lucky person to get to go.

We actually were scheduled to leave SFO on 5/6/2019 and arrive the evening of 5/7/2019 in Wales, but things happened to delay us (and make us stronger!) and we did not actually step foot into England until late-night on 5/8/2019 and we got to Wales on the morning of 5/9/2019.  And from there, my paper journal (which I am so glad that I forced myself to keep up with) begins...

Thursday May 9, 2019
Last night we flew from London Heathrow into Manchester airport and we got our room in at the Manchester airport hotel sometime around midnight. The kind shuttle driver was cheerful to come and pick up just us standing out in the cold at the airport and took us to our hotel, where we were welcomed as if it were 12 noon instead of 12 midnight. Ahhh. A shower and bed.

Thursday morning, we picked up our rental car, a Vauxhall crossover which was quite comfortable. We had made arrangements to meet Claire and Elgar at Chester Services, which is a wonderful place to stop for everything you might need while traveling. Finally we made it to Wales! It was everything I expected, and so much more.

Winding our way along roads that got smaller and narrower as we drove further into the valley where Elgar told me has lived most of his life, everything was as I had seen in pictures and videos. It is a very peaceful place to be. It was very green with stone walls, endless fields of sheep, and not an LGD in sight. That was hard to get used to! Hedges between fields, are kept neatly and some are very tall! We also saw lots of laid hedges.

Field of Welsh Mountain sheep near Llanarmon, DC, in Wales

We picked up food at a tiny shop and then proceeded on to the Jones' farm where we stayed in a brand new caravan on the farm. It was perfect. We walked up the road to stretch our legs, to the Berwyn Barns, which is a 5-star self-catering accommodation. The Berwyn Barns is in a wonderful setting just above a running creek. There were more sheep, ewes, and lambs everywhere- mostly Welsh Mountain breed, but a few mules here and there. Everything was so green and the roads were so narrow. There is barely enough room for two small cars. My Chevy pickup would be too massive! I kept channeling Jill as I knew she would find this place to be paradise. There was no mobile service. It felt like a restorative retreat.

Everyone wanted to show us their dogs, which of course we were most happy to oblige! I loved watching all the different dogs on our trip.  Most of the Welsh dogs that we saw were worked ultra quietly, on the softest voice and whistle, and so patiently. I fell in love with their dogs, mostly rough coated. Many of the sets of farm dogs are on separate sets of whistles so that they can be run together on the hill for farm work, as well as for trialling in the brace competitions.  The lines they have developed are dogs that fit their own particular farm work and as such, not overly flanky and wide for use on the hill.  Claire also worked Briar at everyone's request. They liked Briar.

In the evening, Gloria, Claire and I went to The Hand in the village for a delicious pub dinner in front of a massive old fireplace. It was rainy and cold outside...but warm and cosy inside, and I loved all of it. What a great day it was, and it was more than worth all of the patience that it took to get us there!

The Hand

In our lodgings (caravan) in Wales

View outside our lodgings in Wales

A building that caught my eye in a tiny village in Wales

Celebrating!

Celebrating today! I am so happy!

Cap and some of the sheep whose feet got trimmed

 We were able to finish trimming feet on the sheep at the coop. I thought it would take three sessions but we got it finished in two sessions. A whole future weekend day is now freed up...I am so happy! Some of the sheep needed it more than others; some hardly needed anything or could get away without any attention...while others required a lot of work on their feet. You can't tell until you get them in position to trim.

We have been working on modifying the set of pens and alleyway to better resemble the "Bud box" system...we are not there yet but it is getting better. And folks are learning how to better handle the sheep through the system. I am sure this is part of the reason we were able to finish so much faster this time around.  Big thank yous to Foothill Agrarian for help on this with videos and advice.

Also...regarding confidence... I've not had a dog yet (in my small number of dogs) who is so confident to move sheep that they don't need any help, ever. Maybe someday I will have "that dog". Meanwhile I work to build confidence. It is in the back of my mind every time I work dogs. If it goes out of my mind I will be sorry (and have been when I let emotion get in my way). I've had several lessons that were solely focused on building and maintaining confidence in my dogs and I go back to those principles time after time.

The sun is out...celebrating! :-)

Atmospheric River...Enough Already!

This week, and the past month, have been crazy weather...every five minutes it changes, it seems, and most of the minutes have involved heavy rain storms, flooding, high winds, relentless rain, and so forth. Today it was capped by hail! What is next? Locusts ?? Wait, don't answer that!! :-) This is semi-coastal, wine country, Northern California, the peaceful Mediterranean Climate...we are supposed to get Pineapple Expresses, but not relentless cold rain, and not hail, and not snow... I don't have any snow pictures but snow was *not* very far away! Yikes!  I'm glad to have moisture... I do not want the "D" word (drought) but enough already... a moderate amount at a time and preferably not all at once... would be nice, okay? :-)

Ryme loves water...which is a darn good thing!

Jerry the llama finds nice green stuff near and in the water...

Ryme enjoying the water.. no we are not growing rice!

It is a challenge to find ways to work dogs around all the water...Olive on a drive

Olive again on a cross drive

Part of the wetland waterway system in action...winter!

Standing water in sheep areas... and a rainbow!

Hail on my pickup...luckily not large enough to cause damage...

Watch your step there, Ryme

"Snow" at the end of the downspout?

Wait! This is Wine Country!

The local "Valentines Day" trials have been postponed due to weather again...and again...there is one more kick at that can and if the Atmospheric River is turned into a flood then it is cancelled. I'm just hoping that the "biggie" trials in March will be unaffected...otherwise it does spark memories of the year the big oak trees fell down in the driveway and onto Calistoga Road at the Sonoma Wine Country trial...crossing fingers that does NOT happen this year!!

The dogs (and I!) are stir crazy...hoping we get a break for at least a few days so we can work on our sheepdog home work.We have things to work on, and it's Friday...so Dream Big!

Spot and Cap run 2-10-2019

This silly video is intended to make you (and me) smile on a Monday...it is Cap's first run with the quad and Spot is running steadily along side. The look on Cap's face as he tries to catch up with me, (I am sitting on the back of the side-by-side) is priceless! :-)



It's also to remind me of my happy place!

Cap and I had a lesson over the weekend...we worked on his outruns. I had trouble getting the situation set up by myself (sheep kept following me and would not stay put) but finally when sheep were held for us by a spotter and dog, it all came together. On the bye side, Cap is tighter than on the away side. On both sides, he is a bit tighter than you want and he does not (yet) go deep enough. We are taking a gradual approach. The more I work him, the better he gets.

On the bye side I am doing a little bit more influence on him, i.e. walking out ahead of him, sometimes stopping him and bending him out, etc. On the away side I don't have to do as much, I might walk out but not stop him and bend out unless he needs it. I think others are finally seeing what I have seen all along in Cap...his approach to the sheep is both businesslike and intense.

Spot got to run out along with the quad which is good exercise for him, but we did not have a lesson. We are on a budget. Two lessons is more than I can handle, right now.

Once back home, I worked Spot and Cap on their respective plans. I put sheep on hay to work on Cap's outrun, since I was by myself and did not have a spotter to hold the sheep. He is doing really big boy stuff!  It started raining the instant I got sheep sorted to work tonight, and it kept up raining until I was finished working Spot. What gives? There wasn't even rain in the forecast. I worked anyway even in the rain, slogging around in the mud. I only have so much time to work dogs and during the rain is when that time slot fell. Oh well! Super happy with Cap and what he is doing.

Mudder Collie

For Spot I am following my plan to increase his physical and mental stamina for a good and happy shed. This time he pushed sheep out to the hay and we did one easy outrun. Then I did two sheds, which were both happy and OK. I will continue with this plan; sometimes just going out and shedding right away, and other times doing a few things first (an outrun, some driving, etc. more or less) and then a shed. I want to figure out how to keep his head cooler so that the shed will seem easy to him by the time we get to it on the course even though it is always near the end.

I'm so glad to have Ryme back in the working crew as he got to set the stage for Cap and Spot. He loves to work and is the "sheep cop" who will correct any reluctant ovines who think late afternoon is the time to "go home" and not work with dogs. Uh-uh. Ryme says you are going out to the field, without any nonsense.

We have had so much cold rain. I am not complaining about moisture but I am getting worried about some of the sheep in this weather. They are our responsibility and are dependent on us for their care.

Coal Update 2-8-2019

Coal's surgery and recuperation are now in the books. Whew. :-)

We went to his veterinarian this afternoon to have the little cosmetic "Rocky Balboa" suture removed from under his eye. She also thought his neuter incision looked very good. It is all healed up.

As it turns out, the pathology report showed that there was a tumor in each testicle, not just the enlarged one that prompted this whole ordeal. And each one was a different type of tumor. Who knew? They were both removed in the neuter surgery and the biopsy report stated that the surgery should take care of the problem. Neither tumor is known to cause further trouble in the rest of the body. Great news!

Poor guy. Coal has been all his life, Mr. Confident and Independent, and Nothing Bothers Him. But today while we waited in the foyer at the vet's office, he climbed halfway up in my lap, not once but twice. He has never done that before. Poor dude. He was a bit worried. He would not take a treat from the vet until we were all done. That is not like him but nothing major happened today for him. No more removed parts!!

I'm super happy to have my Coal back...I wish he were the young Coal but since that's not possible I will take the happy 12-year-old Coal. He seems to feel much better than prior to the operation so apparently the enlarged testicle situation was bothering him, with distention or something.

What I also noticed during his surgical recuperation was that he was much more active and sprightly while taking the pain meds that were sent home with him following surgery. I didn't really know before this happened, that he was in ongoing pain, but now I know. I started him on Duralactin (supplement) that the vet recommended, to give that a try. We got some more carprofen for "as needed use" today. If we need something more, the vet will work with us.

Cap Update

This is a little video of Cap's gather on the bye side (which is his tight side).



I'm super happy with how Cap is working. He is still tight on the side of his outrun, especially on the come bye side. The away side (not videoed) is much more open and flowing. And some of the time on both sides, he opens way up, goes deep and wide, as well. I am staying patient as this issue seems to be sorting itself out with continued work and distance (as I have been assured). I am keeping the faith. :-)

Cap is ready for little chores. Of course he does not shed, yet, but if I am creative I can do just about anything I need to do with him. The other day I found a ewe who needed to be marked and treated, as she had apparently cut (superficially) the skin below her jaw on one side. I am guessing she stuck her head through the fence to graze on something "greener" than what was on her side and then startled and cut her face on some fencing somehow... anyway I was out with Cap when I saw the issue, and just walked back "home" with the sheep and Cap pushing them behind me, quite reliably. We put them into the round pen where I could mark her... I went and got Ryme just in case, and the two of them held the sheep to me so that I could paint-mark the ewe and try to spray her cut with blu-kote. I ended up getting more blue spray on me than on the ewe but the dogs did a great job of holding sheep to me. Cap is one I can turn my back on and he will not take cheap shots or get in trouble. And he will defend himself if the sheep get nasty to him. I figured that Cap might learn from Ryme in this situation and I believe he did.  The two dogs worked together well. It's really nice to have another dog who can do chores.