The Maltese Cross

I worked all the dogs today on ducks and the Maltese cross. These ducks are not used to obtacles so it was doubly hard. Dually worked them first and was a bit of an idiot like he can be. But we got them thru the cross a number of times after we widened up the entry. Dare did a better job because he is wider and slower on ducks, but sometimes I could not get him to speed up enough to cover the side. Hmmm Edge did it very well too. He's slow and wide and stops on a dime. He's fun but I do hate that he watches me so much. Went to the dump today, big trip. phew I had to clean up the hay that the sheep would not eat in the feeder and fork it into the trailer and drive the trailer to the top of the hill in hopes that the cows will eat it. They are out free in the arena so aren't eating a lot of hay right now. speaking of hay, I think I have a new contact. Going to call right now. s

The Glider ride

Greg and I went to Bar Harbor yesterday. He took me to Acadia National Park and we went up Cadillac Mountain which was very cool and the weather was perfect. I took some pictures which I normally do not do and will try to upload And then we drove threw Bar Harbor but couldn't easily find a parking spot so we didn't stop in any of the neat shops that I saw. It would have been fun but it was getting late. We kinda got lost on the mountain and did a lot of extra driving. really pretty though. On the way home we drove by a biplane ride and glider ride place and I said I would go so we pulled in and Greg said no way he was going up in anything without an engine until the salesman very calmly convinced him it was safer with no engine because there was nothing to fail and you could glide and land most anywhere. It made perfect sense to me. We signed the paperwork, met the pilots and they packed the 2 of us into one seat and closed the bubble top. The pilot explained how the rudders and petals worked and they hooked a big cable to the front of the glider and off we went. The glider rose in the air before the towplane did. It was cool. They brought us up to 4000ft in a circular fashion and let us go. I had always heard how quiet it was in a glider and that is soo not true. It was darn noisy with the air rushing by the vents at sometimes 120mph. Sometimes we were only goint 30 to 40 mph but we did a quick dive and were going 120 in 2secs flat.You could not feel the speed at all. The pilot started to ask us if we did roller coasters and we did not know where he was going with that. I said kiddie roller coasters would be fine and he dipped the nose a couple of times and then turned really hard left and we dropped like a shot , just like in a coaster. It was very cool, but I didn't really want to do much more of that so he stopped. It was great flying over the coastline. You could see quite a distance and the pilot pointed out some lakes and islands and named some mountains in the distance. The landing was the coolest thing. It was quiet compared to a jet and we landed on the grass in what looked like a shallow ditch and he pulled the thing right up to a post sticking out of the ground and the nose touched it and stopped. I thought I had the video camera on the whole way, but apparently not. It was about a 20min ride and when I got out , the pilot had to pull me out like a sardine and Gregs foot was asleep so he couldn't move for a while. We got ice cream on the way home. It was a good day after a rocky start where Dare escaped from his crate in the car and ran down the street. A good Samaritan stopped to tell us he saw a loose Aussie down the street and we went after him. I whistled from the car and he came out of the woods behind us but would not come to me. He looked at me but kept running away so I pulled out my big guns and leaned down to the side of the road and pointed and yelled bunny bunny and Dare came running back to find the bunny and I caught him. Silly dog

Aus Shep club of Maine

Tonight's cattle trial. Dare pulled the cows that not only didn't want to play , they tried to kill him. I let him HIT once good but then another one came back for some and I called the run. He was more than willing to fight with them but I am not willing to watch him get hurt. Not worth it to me. Dually pulled some nice cows but he tried to turn them in the opposite direction at the start because that is the way we went the past 2 days. Darn smart dogs. Finally got them going to the first panel and they stalled so we had to push and pull and push and he doesn't always push well. He would not stop and push where I asked so he overflanked and twirled them and then got aggravated and dove in and twirled them, but he held them on the crossdrive and we finally got it done and got all 3 in the center pen. It was good enough for 107 and 2nd place.. All done and out for ice cream which was not that good. Tomorrow is just sheep and ducks and no cows. Course A sheep and ducks. I need a kick ass sheep run.

Aus Shep club of Maine

I entered the Thurs night trial on cattle with Dare and Dually and Dually won with a 118 and Dare came in 2nd with 116. Fri I did not enter Dare and Dually in the Farm trial because they both have their titles in sheep and ducks but I entered Edgie for haha's and he won Open farm sheep and open farm ducks. Fri night Dare and Dually were in cattle again and Dually won Cattle with 110 and Dare won 4th with 100. Today we ran course D sheep which was a tad bit difficult. Dually had a kick ass run up to the free standing pen and I had them in twice and he punched them out twice. We had to move on so we ended up with 100 4th place and Dare got a 92, but he had fun. In Ducks, Dually ot a 93 on course C and Dare won the class with 106. And then we did a fun time and points thing for $5 run on 2 goats on course D with a minor variation. There were 2 divisions adv and std. I put Edge in STd and he won that and $32

Should I go or Should I stay?

I've been vacillating between going to the trial and the clinic and not going for 2 weeks now. Seems like a lot of work to pack up the trailer and the dogs and make sure the livestock is okay for a few days whilst I am off galivanting. But on the other hand it will mean finals points for next year for Dually anyway. Not sure if Dare will be sound enough to trial this weekend. I was even toying with the idea of entering Edge either FEO or putting him in the farm trial. I am bringing his reg. papers just in case. I have such an issue putting the baby ducks and the chicken in the barn at night that I am going to lock them in a stall and let the caretaker deal with only the older ducks who are apparently 10x smarter. Every single night one of those stupid baby ducks gets caught behind the gate and I have to either wait it out or pick the damn thing up. The chicken has actually gotten with the program so she will go into the barn and back out of it in the morning. She was at first lallygagging around the barn door until she felt like going into her pen. Now she is just trotting out with the ducks. No dogs chased her either. So tonight when I put them in I will lock the chicken and her babies in a stall and they weill stay there until I get home. Easier to keep track of them there. Spent a hot hour putting hay in for the cows yesterday so they will be all set for a few days. I will have to go buy more damn hay next week. time time time. I have nothing packed in the trailer yet and I know I need propane so I should just go get the tanks filled and that will be one thing off the list. I think I will do that in combination with picking up some take out Thai food . Ya that's the ticket.

Back up Dually

Dually needs to be able to take a step back or two when I am penning and when I am doing a lot of things. He does not want to do that. He would rather come forward which of course could get me killed or a broken leg or something. So today we worked on back up. He learned this as a pup so I know he knows what the words mean but he sure did not want to do it when faced with stock. I had to put a line on him to keep him from turning away and avoiding me and then we had to work on it a bit. By the end he was backing up on command without the pressure of me or the stock stick. Now I know this will not hold up till the next lesson but it's a start. Also was working him on whistles. Dare was a good boy today. We worked on driving the sheep to the corner and then I asked for a flank to the fence which I was not gettting. I calmly went out and showed him what I wanted and by golly, the 3rd time he actually did it. He and Edge chased a sheep off and turned sharply and now Dare is lame. of course he is just when we were getting somewhere. Edge drove again and corrected the line on his own once of twice so I am happy with that.

Dog Work

Dually was much more attentive and responsive today. He took better downs and stops and I worked him with the whistle. He understands stop and walk up. I was pretty happy with him tonight. Dare worked pretty well too. I think he knows how to control the stock better than Dually but he is less responsive to commands. I did to the AKC course and we sorta got the crossdrive. It's getting better. I think it's a matte of him understanding what I want him to do. Dually did it almost perfectly. Dare ran by going like hell and the stock ended up as always coming back to me, but he did take the inside flank so I think he's getting it. Feels kinda cook out tonight. I'm closing windows on the porch and the fans are off.. I took a 2 hr nap on the window seat this aftenoon. It's very comfortable. Tonight I think I will work on some whistle lanyards. Now I am going to go put the ducks in the barn.

Smart Bunny

You will be happy to hear , that I have not caught the bunny but it has not been back to the garden to eat my beans either. I'm sure it will be back. Yesterday, I was able to pick my first cucumber and eat it. It was small and I should have waited but it was good. I worked all the dogs yesterday. Dare kept quitting on me so every time he did I made him go outside the fence and I went and pushed the sheep. When he came back, he worked better. I kept calm and quiet and so did he. Dually was a bit of an ass. He would not take his stops or downs so I have to go back to basics on that, but he did take some amazing inside flanks so I was happy with that. Edge was driving out in the big field like a finished dog. Calm quiet, taking some short inside flanks with some body language from me, but the best part was he was more willing to work away from me yesterday. We finished with a couple of big outruns and instead of going straight up the middle he went out and around. Not unhappy with any of that. I had to quit because the bugs were really bad last night. Going to go out now and work all of them. It's 9:30 am and maybe get another work in tonight. Day off from lessons today!

BUNNY WAR!!

The wild bunnies are eating my garden. They have devoured all of my corn plants and 4 bean plants. So I bought a small hav a heart and I just set it up with a carrot and some nice lettuce. If I catch one, I will release it someplace else even though I love seeing them in the fields. Not very nice of them to eat my vegetable garden. Last year it was the chipmunks eating my tomatoes, but I'm pretty sure they would not be eating my bean plants. I went to Mann's Rv for the 3rd time this week and finally got my trailer back. They repacked the wheel bearings and checked the brakes and checked the axle. Looks good to go at least for a while. I had them fix the leaky hose attachment and so I hope that will be good when I use it next. It was very leaky. I have been driving a little with Edge . He need some confidence to go out ahead of me. I'll keep working on it. His flanks and his stop are going to be so easy. He practically skids to a stop when I say it. NICE!!! I checked out a big HAV a heart at tractor supply tonight.. Kathy had a rooster to donate to the cause. They appear to make them with little cages inside that you can put live bait in which has got to work better than store bought chicken. Still not sure what I am trying to catch so it's hard to know what to bait with. I am going to wait till I come home from Maine to tackle that issue. In the meantime I have to put everybody in the barn every night which is working out fine. In the am they troup back to their pen except for the chicken who lollygags . I keep leaving her out but one of these days I am going to forget and let the dogs out and byeybye chickie. I have been enjoying my new porch a lot this summer. In the morning, it is lovely out here in the shade and with a breeze it's just wonderful. I have 2 hummingbird feeders right outside the windows and they keep me entertained too. I have my computer out here and I do a lot of work right here with the dogs either at my feet or behind me in their little room . If I had a recliner out here, I no doubt would be out cold every afternoon.

My day off __ha

I got talked into some lessons this morning and in the middle of the lessons my friend Gail dropped by with her company truck and took some branches down that had been hanging and were very dangerous. Thank you Gail. Back to lessons. Fios was awesome today. I hope we can keep it going and transfer it to other locations. The little shit can do it right. Then I searched the internet for hay and still could not find any so I called my cow owners and drove 40 miles to pick up 3 round bales with my stock trailer. Thank goodness for the stock trailer this year or I would not be able to keep the cows which are really not getting much work. I did work Edge on big outruns(big as my field anyway) and I worked Dually in the small pen on flanks and paying attention to his Mama. I have to start working on a back up because he needs to know how to release some pressure just not all of it. I sent an email about the Sept Jan Wesen clinic and tomorrow is another busy day. I need to call theRV place and have them look at the trailer tires which are wearing funny. It doesn't make me comfortable to drive it that way. So I will have to unhook the stock trailer which I had some trouble with so that is why it is still hooked up tonight and then close up the trailer and hook that up and readjust the trailer brakes and drive to Rutland. HOpefully get that done tomorrow. My new shade trees must get planted tomorrow . THey have been sitting around long enough and I need to work on the garden some more, but it's supposed to be HOT tomorrow so we will see what actually gets done.

Catching UP

Ok so I have been busy with a clinic and then my Birthday celebration. First the clinic It was Roger STevens for 3 days and we worked on some really neat exercises that incorporated pressure and timing and short flanks. I was able to work on Dually blowing me off on directions. Wow , I had no idea how bad it had gotten but I am back on track. Dare didn't get to work much. I worked Edge and he was AWESOME!!! Gosh he can do some nice things. We worked on cattle a few times and he hits heels and heads. I was afraid he would not hit heads but apparently I was wrong. One tried to get away and he reached up and hit the nose and released and turned that little sucker back. We worked on an outrun with him in the duck arena and with some other people out there, he went nice and wide and pretty. I worked him today on walking up on the stock and that will need some work. He does not want to walk away from me. He keeps coming back to me or not moving forward. I can fix that. Everybody liked Roger and we had a good clinic. I kept forgetting to add this or that to certain dishes that I had to prepare. I would remember days later. I think I'm losing it but I've said that before. Glad it's over though. My Birthday celebration included an hour with a medium. He was very nice and came up with some amazing things. Basically he only got energy or messages from Mom and Dad and Carols Father in law ARnie whom we all had known when he was alive. Supposedly Dad told him he had buried a box near the old business but Carol and I could not find anything. Of course there are a number of old businesses so right away that's and issue and the oldest one has been razed. We got a tape of it though so that's good. And on to dinner in RI which was very good at a local pub. great seafood. Then we took a Blackstone riverboat cruize and the weathere was perfect and the ride was delightful. Stopped for ice cream and then home. I great Birthday!