Working a couple dogs and loading a trailer

I have been working dogs again.   I asked my husband to help me out with keeping me sticking to a schedule, so he put "work dogs" on my schedule for two days a week.   I had been alternating working Pepper and Tessa on those two days, and also using the older dogs to sort for me.   They were doing pretty well until the super cold weather and deep snow got here.    I'm pretty well taking a break with them until the weather improves.   I did try to work Pepper once in the barn, but it was too much for her, she never would calm down, so I decided to give that a rest also.

Yesterday I sold a few of the sheep, and Hank did an awesome job sorting out the ones the people wanted, then driving them through the yard, down the driveway, and right into the trailer.   This was even with a lot of people "helping" including a bunch of very small children.   I did yell a bit at them to keep the kids out of the way lest they get trampled, but they didn't do that very well, and Hank managed to keep the sheep calm enough not to run over any little kids. 

Anyway, to them it looked like another routine day on the farm, but to me, I was proud as punch of the Hank dog.   Nothing like a few trailer loading episodes go awry to make one appreciate a really smooth one. 

Where Have I Been?

Where have I been?
What happened to me?

That is a complicated question, but in the past two years I have stopped reading and participating in all my old online dog groups.  I have no idea what is going on in the Aussie world, other than what happens to come through Facebook.

  I can barely bring myself to peruse the Aussie Times when it comes, whereas before it was nearly the highlight of every other month, mail-wise.   In the past year I have pretty much given up training my dogs.  I still work the sheep when needed, with my already trained dogs.  But that's it.  I'm entirely without motivation and the reasons for this are fairly complicated.   This week I put most of my sheep up for sale.   I haven't been to a trial since the summer of 2012 and that was mainly to judge.  I'm not even sure when the last ASCA trial I went to was.  A couple years, maybe.   I have tried without success to place several dogs that I don't need.  This has been a discouraging endeavor, to say the least.   So, if you're wanting a dog, partly trained, drop me a line.  They are on the two for one discount- and the first one is free.   Good homes only though.  I still love my dogs.  I just lost interest in the rest of the dog world. 

I don't really know if anyone has noticed or cared about my dropping out, but this week I have been doing a lot of soul searching, and decided to write something of a goodbye post.

 A little over two years ago I started going through some very personal stuff, too personal for this blog, that led to me rededicating myself to my marriage, to my husband, to my home and to my kids.   With this shift in focus came a gradual reluctance to travel, and when I did go to trials all I could think of was getting back home again.  You might call it sort of a paradigm shift.  I didn't intend to stop trialing or training, it just found its way to be less important and less attractive to me.  The less I trialed, the less I felt the impulse to train.  Trialing gives me incentive to train the same way an upcoming test would give me the impulse to study back in school.   The less I trained, the less ready the dogs were to go to a trial, so I didn't enter them.  It's no fun to go unprepared.   Besides, I didn't want to be away from home anyway. 

Also, when Sprite came up dysplastic it had a shattering effect on my breeding plans.   Sprite is an extraordinary dog in so many ways.   I had such hopes for the pups she and Hank might produce.    When she was spayed it put a huge dent in my morale vis a vis dogs.  Then I had an accidental litter which also didn't do anything for my confidence in myself or my interest in the dog scene.  

The only intact female I have now is Pepper, and while she is a great dog who could pass on some real talent, I really have no interest in dealing with puppies, or with prospective puppy owners.

Last year we had a horrible lambing season.  It was cold, the lambs came early, which was my fault, and many of them died.  It was heart breaking, absolutely heart breaking.  And for why?  I don't need more sheep.    We had more lamb in the freezer than we needed.  For some reason, mainly the economy, people stopped buying it. 

Now, we are looking at moving sometime soon.   So, cutting back on sheep made sense from many perspectives.  I just can't get rid of all of them and end that segment of my life, my one time passion.  

My husband also didn't want me to give it up- the dogs, the sheep, the trialing, training and socializing.  He worried that I was giving it all up for him, and he didn't want that to happen.  So by keeping a few sheep I'm leaving the crack open to start up some training again.   I don't know.  I just don't have the will to do it right now.  I keep saying "maybe later".   It makes me sad though. 

  

Rain!!!

It's raining today, and it's glorious.

 Maybe not so exciting for many people, who are just happy the flowers and yard are getting watered.  But our pasture is so dry there is nothing there.  I have to take the sheep out to the woods and sit with them, using a trained sheepdog to keep them from wandering, just to make sure they are getting enough to eat.   This can be a good time for relaxing and meditating, but really, how much relaxing and meditating does a person need?   I don't dare take Dane's laptop to the woods in case it would get leaves or something in it, or get stepped on by a sheep, and we don't have any smart phones or whatever.   Reading a book is difficult, because I don't dare get too involved in the plot lest the sheep get too far away, and out in the road or lost in the woods.

Then I feel like Little Boy Blue

Little Girl Blue come send your dog
The sheep are in the road and the cows are in the bog.
Where is the girl who looks after the sheep?
She's got her nose in a book, way too deep.

Moving the sheep to find some grass

Our pasture is very sad, very dry.  Really not much there, so I have to take the sheep out to find some grass now, or leaves, or anything really.   When the governor announced that parks would be opening for livestock grazing my ears perked up.  That's how bad it is.  I probably will not have to do that, but it's something I keep in mind. 

Sprite bringing the sheep out of the "pasture".  Not much there. 

Putting sheep through the gate- just enough pressure so they are not rushed

Decker, the naughty sheep, makes a break for it and Sprite brings him back

Hello sheep

Taking them through the yard, and working on the drive

Sprite really wanted to go to the head and bring them back

My adorable hyena-dog

Sheep say "mmm, trees"

Sprite holding them off the gate

Sheep in their patch of weeds to eat

That'll do, good dog

Puppies herding

This week I tried both pups, Stormy and Taz, out on the sheep individually.   They are 4 months old.   They had both been on the sheep at the same time about a month ago, and turned on really fast then.   I was expecting wild and wooly  this time.    And they were!

Taz went first and I was able to get him circling the group pretty well after a minute or so of wild chasing.   He was very eager and not able to be shut down at all.   When I finally grabbed the rope he still wanted more.

Taz

Stormy went a couple of days later and he was even more intense than his brother.  He didn't notice I was out there in the pen any more, he just wanted SHEEP!   I finally grabbed the rope and made him walk around next to me for about 20 minutes, before he started giving to my pressure.    Then I turned him loose and he was wonderful- he moved off me, he circled the group, he wasn't running into the middle of the sheep any more.   He also did not want to quit when I was ready to stop and had to be dragged out. 

 I managed to get a couple of pictures of him in between when I tied him to the fence to catch my breath.  
He is one eager pup! 

Stormy

Stormy

Stormy

The puppies are out of Holmberg's Firefly Contessa DNA-VP and by WTCH Birch Hollow's Ranch Security RTDcs, PATDcs, OFTDcs, DNA-VP

They are both DNA tested. 

Kids and fun

What are we up to?

            Combination James Bond/cheerleader/Santa Claus? 

What can I say?

A boy and his snake

The kids were having fun Monday on their day off.    

It should have worked

Yes, that is how my morning went.  I tried a new set up this year for loading the lambs because I had loaned out my X pen that I usually use to form kind of a chute.  Plus, the snow wasn't very deep so I thought it would be easy to have the trailer right up by the barn.  Usually we have to leave the trailer in the driveway and bring the sheep to it.  

So, last night Dane shoveled a little snow out of the way and backed the trailer right up to the barn door.  He said to use the giant plywood sheets to make sides for the ramp up to the trailer, but in the morning I wasn't sure I could move the plywood, plus I was afraid of ruining it.   Instead, I grabbed a spare gate and a smaller piece of plywood.  

I figured it would take me 20 minutes to half an hour to get the ramp made, and get the correct lambs sorted and pushed through the barn and loaded into the trailer.  

Everything went fine with Hank helping me for the gathering of the lambs, the sorting,  and putting the lambs through the barn.  The first one started up the trailer, then the second one decided my ramp sides were too low and bailed over the side.  By pushing hard, I got three more lambs in the trailer, but then the rest either jumped the sides or scooted under a crack in the bottom by the gate.   Dang it.  Now I had 4 lambs loose in the barn yard.   I sent Hank to round them up, thinking I'd just put them back in the barn and try again.  
But they wanted nothing to do with that barn door, treating it like a solid wall, and every time I'd get them close this one little wether would make a bolt for freedom.  I was losing it.  A few swear words and dire threats were issued.   After several more attempts at getting them in the barn. I was about ready to butcher the one wether on the spot with my teeth.   

Just then Dane came outside with the kids.  Pepper, who is very enthusiastic and only partly trained, slipped past them from the house and came bearing down on us and our four flighty lambs like a freight train.     I reacted quickly.   I stepped out in front of her and in my fiercest voice said "DOWN" and she did.   Whew!    I quickly grabbed her and put her in the car out of the way.  

Dane helped me grab two more lambs and toss them up in the trailer.   The last two were now very squirrelly from being separated into such a small group, and Hank was having trouble holding them.  So I did my one and only sensible act of the morning, I went and had Hank sort off one of the old ewes to bring out and settle the lambs down again.   After a bit more work we got them all together and were able to grab the last two lambs and get them loaded. 
It ended up taking about twice as long as I thought, but at least they were all alive, uninjured and on the trailer.  I hope Dane made it to work on time. 

In another week we should have a nicely stocked freezer again. 


"It should have worked" is a phrase often used by Norm Andrews, a cattleman and writer of humorous stories from Nebraska.    To see one of Norm's stories/photo galleries, click here:

Dog Tales from A Cattleman
http://users.htcomp.net/slashv/norm.htm