Cap on a Sunday Afternoon

Here are some more little videos of Cap. In these we are just walking around and I am letting Cap bring the sheep without a lot of command. He does not know his sides 100% yet, which is obvious in the videos. He is trying hard to please though, and is really fun to work.




One more:

Cap Pushing Sheep Into a Corner

These are a couple of short videos of Cap pushing sheep into a corner, taking them out again, and pushing them back in. I found a place to stand next to a corner where I don't feel vulnerable and I am not worried about getting hit by the sheep, especially those with the horns. Cap is mostly making fairly nice flanks and he is trying really hard to please and do what I ask, despite the close proximity to the sheep and the new exercise.

The Contract

There is a contract of sorts, that we make with the dogs when we bring them into our lives. They are cute and funny and young and healthy...and in a few short years they are elderly and silly and still funny perhaps, but with growing health problems and limited mobility. This is the contract that we agree to. My thoughts around this lately are growing sad. Coal is now twelve. My handsome open dog who ran joyously up the hills at Zamora, and at Dunnigan, and all the other trials, bringing me trial sheep, doing chores like a comfortable and reliable well-worn saddle, is growing old. And now he has some health issues. He is developing kidney trouble. The vet has put him on a special diet of low phosphorous food to help delay the problems. But he has to go potty a lot, drinks a lot of water and according to the vet needs to be allowed to drink all he wants. We have worked out a plan for now, so that everyone is comfortable. The thought of all this makes me super sad. He is very quickly losing his hearing, too, so we have to manage his freedom when there are no fences to protect him. He's super anxious without me and is glued to my side; I wonder if the hearing loss makes him more needy to be right with me.

Coal is still silly and within seconds of waking up in the morning, is searching for the nearest ball or toy to toss around, or a nylabone to chew on ferociously while I stumble out of bed. He seems to still be enjoying life and that is what I will try to maintain.

Ryme is right behind him at nine years old, and will be ten in December. I had dogs two years apart, years ago, in Alix and Augie and I should have known better than to do that again because I will soon have two elderly dogs to care for, once again. But this contract is not always foremost in our minds when we bring that puppy home.  Ryme is still working and doing chores and I hope that continues for a good while. I don't know what I will do without him. Spot and Cap will have to step into his jobs.

Huge Relief

We had a bit of a scare this week, with Ryme. Our doggie chiropractor was here, to do her magic tuneups on the dogs for their quarterly visit, and she found an egg-sized lump on Ryme, under his ribs on his left side, that was not there the last time she checked him (which was early August in an off-cycle visit). It's a little scary in a nine year old dog to find a fast growing lump like that. The dogs were all due for annual visits to their vet, anyway, so I made an appointment for Ryme to be the first one to get brought up to date. I totally did not need a big expensive vet event, right now, and moreso, was worried about Ryme's health. At nine years old you just never know what is going to happen. Bid was nine when we lost him so it is always a scary year for me with the dogs.

Anyway we were able to get in with our vet the same week, Friday afternoon, which was amazing. They've been booking out two to three weeks recently so I felt this was fortunate. Ryme does not like going to the vet. He gets very worried and in the past we have only been able to do a very sketchy exam on him. But this time he was a trooper. While he was worried, pulling me towards the door, he was good as gold when Dr Joy examined him. She said right away, "oh that's a lipoma". Whew! But then she said she could tap it to make sure. Once again Ryme held still for her to insert a needle into the growth and get some cells to view, and yes, she confirmed it was a fatty tumor, or a lipoma. This was a huge relief!!! I am so grateful that this is not a big problem for Ryme, and a huge bill for me. We have lots of work yet to do; he is my right hand guy for close sheep work, sorting, pushing through the chute, and so forth.  And he will be my backup for exhaust at the Finals.

I felt bad for the staff at the vets office. They were working with a new computer system and Friday was the first day for it. They were a bit stressed. I can relate! They are also combining two practices and offices. A vet practice that burned down last October in the Santa Rosa firestorm is combining with the vet that I have gone to for probably almost twenty years. I am hoping this will be a good thing, but for now, until they get larger quarters, it is a bit crowded and crazy in there. Eventually I think it will be positive. I felt very positive with Ryme's news! Now I just have to go back with the other three dogs, and bring everybody else up to date, probably split into two visits to spread out the cost. No pet insurance here, although that might have to happen someday.

Gratitude all around, for good news... :-)

Stubbed My Toe

The ground is so darn hard. Poor Cap has bruised his toe again. No sheepdog training for him, this weekend while we rest him and wait for him to heal up. I do not want to work with a limping puppy! (Even though he is willing...). It's hard to wait as he is so much fun to work with.

Here is Cap from a couple of weekends ago, doing some pretty fancy footwork following the ewes...

Watching the live streaming of the International in gloriously green Ireland, it makes me quite jealous of nice green grass to run sheep and dogs on.

Between the hard ground and (even worse) all the fires in California and elsewhere that keep popping up, rain cannot come soon enough!

Meanwhile we are making lists and packing and prepping for the Finals...it's getting real!

Unfolding Cap

Cap is going well for me. I'm really pleased with his work ethic and willingness to work with me, and not against me. He is now fourteen, going on fifteen months old.

We have worked nearly every evening, all summer. It was good timing for him to be the right age to train, during summer when I have lots of daylight after my work day.  We have been able to squeeze in for one lesson with our trainer, and that went well...so I am working on those takeaways until such time as we can go back for another lesson. Cap has a very nice feel for sheep, which one would expect given his parents. His stop is fairly reliable for a puppy, and normally on his feet, but sometimes lying down. I haven't pushed for either stop position. He stops fairly well so I don't care at this point if it's standing or lying down. He is learning his sides and will indulge me with a few steps of a drive. All in all, he is a fun project to unfold! I'm excited to see where his progress will take me.

Cosmo keeps watch on the two old girls while they eat separately from the larger group

Are they trying to save on pasture space, or what? :-)

Summer is drawing to an end. Fall is in the air.

It's Getting Real!

It's getting real! The 2018 National Finals website link is below:

https://www.sheepdogfinals.org/

 (photos from 2015 Finals, also in Alturas)