Day before the AKC trial

I had good intentions of going to the spin class at 11. I got up, I drove, I got there at 10:55 and they had already closed the doors, lowered the lights and started the class. So I left. I am self conscious enough and if was an almost full class and there are only a few bikes with padded seats and I am NOT sitting on a bike with a plastic seat. no way no how.

So I went to Home Depot to try and get some lattice and they would not cut if for me so I couldn't get that either. Back to the trailer and I laid around all day until Lee showed up to load up the momma and calf. Pretty sure he did that so I would feel more comfortable working the cows. ''maybe''.

When he left I went out and worked the ducks. Edgie has to take them out of the dog kennel by taking my flank. He's not good at it yet. I sorta have to lead him from the outside to get him started.Then I worked on flanks with him and penning at the end into the dog kennel.

Dually was being an ass so I got on him for not squaring his flanks and then he cornered the ducks and I asked for an away and he wouldn't give it to me so we fought about that for a while. Same old problem with him. One of these days maybe he will let them loose and take the flank.

It's a 45 min ride to the show site so I have to leave at 6 am tomorrow. lovely. still dark at that time.

Worked cows

When I woke up this morning I had a plan but then Lee called me and asked if I wanted to bring the dogs over and work his calves. yes please. He gave me directions. Why is it people in Fla have trouble with directions or maybe it was people in Texas too? Anyway I found the place where the cows were which was at his son in laws place. There are 5 bull calves about 450 lbs and they worked very nicely. They challenged both dogs and then both dogs bit them and that was the end of that. Edge bit under the belly which did not make me happy but he only bit once. Dually kept rushing them when I tried to keep him on the hip going around to the right. He kept going up to the heads and creating problems. That is his away side and it must be related. I worked both dogs in the small pen and I was happy with that.

Then I went to the Fresh Market and bought some groceries. Nice store but expensive.

Came home and thought the calf in the pasture was gone. He was there when I got home but the Mom was drifting quite far from her. It's a girl. THen I got distracted and when I looked back the calf was not lying down where it had been and the Mom was getting upset. I was worried too. I got in the car to drive around the pasture. It's not a good idea to walk between a MOm and a baby. I drove around and didnt' see it so I drove around again and looked under the huge tree and there it was. Mom still was calling for it and it was not calling back so I got out of the car to get it up and it spooked and ran through the barbed wire into the next half of the pasture. geez. It kept running though which was a little worrisome. It turned and started running down the fenceline. I headed it off in the car but it didnt stop until I beeped at it. Then I waited a minute and Mom got close enough to call her and then I left.

I was going to go to the spin class but my legs hurt too much from yesterdays "lifestyle" class. That as a crock, it's a friggin exercise class. Fool me once shame on me.

SO I worked Edge on the ducks instead. He has such nice pace and balance, but he does not know his flanks well enough yet. Tomorrow I am going to pick up some lattice to make some panels and stuff for the ducks.

I was sweeping out the trailer and the door popped open and scared Edge who was under the trailer and he got caught in the antenna wire and ripped it out at both ends. I had to go out and buy another coaxial cable tonight to watch tv.

Ready for bed now. Seems like I was busy busy all day. Oh ya stopped and got a haircut when I went out tonight for another coax.

Wed

Lee came over this morning with a lawn mower and he mowed down the rest of the prickers in the duck pen. It would have taken me a couple more days and then we burned the little bastards. So now it's pretty free to work in there although I didn't today. AFter working I rested and had lunch and then went to the lifestyle workout at the gym. Way to much work for me. My back was already bothering me and we did a bunch of stuff that bothered me. It was way too much like an exercise class ie: not much fun. Lots of good work, but like I said not much fun.

Then I went grocery shopping and stopped to talk to a lady in a Rialta who said her boyfriend has just bought it and they were living in it and she hated it. It's way too small for two people to live in. IT looked a lot newer than Carol and Mikes but Igues he had to fix just about everything on it.

Then I went to Walmart and picked up another hose because the one I bought when I got here was leaking or something was. Might be I just needed a washer. Anyway will fix that tomorrow. There is also a farmers market tomorrow morning which I can hit before my yoga class. Unless I go to spinning instead at night, but must work the dogs tomorrow.

yoga day

When I woke up it was cold and windy outside. It stayed windy all day. The trailer was a-shakin and a-rockin. So I didn't do anything until yoga at noon. It was a more strenuous yoga than the first class I went to,but I did ok most of the time. My knee is already feeling better from the stretching.

I went out to lunch to what I thought was a bistro type place. It turned out to be an all you can eat buffet, mostly salads. It was ok but of course I overate. Should have gone to Applebee's which was my first thought. I wont' go back though. Too much food.

Then I came back to the trailer and took a nap in my lovely recliner. I was tired. I woke up around 5 and went out to check on the ducks. I used the shovel to attack the pricker bushes in the working area. If it's not windy tomorrrow I will burn them. It isn't a big pile but boy are they annoying. Still have plenty more to chop down. It will be easier for the ducks as well as the dogs. I haven't worked the ducks much yet,just a little yesterday to get them in the dog kennel. They were safe last nnight so hopefully that will last.

Duck Day

I woke up early thinking about those damn sheep. I went to Target and got paper and marker and made 10 neon signs with a reward on them for info leading to their recovery and I posted all of them before 11 this morning. Then I came back and started to look for sheep and ducks on line. I had much better luck on ducks and I found someone about 50 miles from here with 5 Welsh Harlequin males. I texted, got their address and drove down there. The ducks were good looking and healthy so I bought them.

On the way home I stopped and got a "lot" of oranges for juicing and boy are they good. I juiced less than 1 bag and I have 2 more bags left. I got strawberries too..

I also stopped and got a bag of grain and shavings and unloaded the ducks into the dog kennel and made sure they were comfortable and dragged myself into the trailer for the night. I'm beat. Can't wait to work the ducks tomorrow. THey appear sensible.

bonus : more baby cow pics

Last evenings surprise!

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boy or girl--I don't know yet

I went to Target this am and got some neon construction paper and made 10 good signs about lost sheep and reward offered and hung them all up. Now to wait but in the meantime perhaps I will look for some ducks to buy.

Oh what a day!!

It started out with a trip over to look for the sheep. drive slow and look . no luck. Tomorrow I am going to put up reward posters and see if that makes any difference. In the meantime I contacted a couple of people about buying more sheep. Neither of them answered me. Hmmmmm

Then I went to the Grand Oaks carriage museum. Fabulous museum. Beautiful carriages. Lots of interesting stuff. I cant' remember how many carriages they have but it was 150+ Most of them were beautifully restored.

And then I had lunch at the cafe at the museum and it was vey good. I had homemade beef barley soup and an odd vegetarian panini. So I went to the grocery to get stuff to go home and make beef barley soup. It came out prety good.

Just as the soup was done , it was too early to eat supper, I decided to go work cows. AFter all with no sheep here, I need to work something so I was going to bite the bullet. I gathered them all up in the holding pen which is good sized and sorted off everybody but 3 of them. 2 young calves and an older cow. One calf immediately decided not to play and was not that nice to Dually so I got rid of her and was soing to work the 2. They kept running into the alleyway so I sent the dog in to get them out twice and the 3rd time they went in, I went in to get her out and she jumped the barbed wire and left and then the young calf came over and jumped out after her. damn damn and double damn. There are no gates in this fence and I was not going to lose the cows. I crawled thru the barb wire getting caught in numerous places of course. Then I called the dog thru, The cows took off up the dirt road away from the other cows. I was not happy. I sent Dually to bring them back knowing it was 5050. He ran and they all disappeared. He came back with no cows. shit shit shit. So I tracked them and then the track disappeared. Oh geez, well it turns out they turned back towards the others. We follwed and pushed them and I called Lee and he started over because there are no gates and I did not want to attempt to push them to jump back over. I thought that would be a very bad idea. So Dually and I held them near the fenceline until Lee got there to take the fence apart and let them back in. It all went very smoothly. Then Lee asked me to drive them up to the feed bin so I started to do that and there was one cow that was under the tree and would not come out. I sent Dually in a couple of times and he could not get her out so I went to help him only to realize she has just dropped her calf. Thank goodness she didn't kill Dually protecing the calf. Didn't have time to check to see if calf was dead or alive before it got too dark. will check tomorrow. Tired now.

No sheep and no sign of them

We have no idea whatsoever where they are. No one else has reported seeing them since the first day. Maybe they did get Stolen, although someone would have to be traveling by at just the right moment with a herding dog and a trailer to steal them. Seem rather farfetched, but who knows.

It's very hard to get motivated to got out and look for them when there is no idea of where to look. So I am kinda only half heartedly looking.

I went to the movies and saw "Song one" It was ok. a little drawn out. NOt sure I can recommend it.

Rain tonight means any hoofprints will be erased and we are just starting fresh again tomorrow. frankly I would just give up if they were mine and wait for someone to report seeing them, but the owner wants to keep looking.

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep

The stupid things escaped yesterday morning after I gave Lee a lesson. His dogs were rough on the sheep and I guess the sheep thought that it was time to leave. I did not notice till late in the afternoon. We looked but only had 1 hr of daylight and did not find them. We went out at 7 am today and looked until 12:30 or until I could not walk anymore. Wore Dually out too because I used him to look in places I did not want to go. I called animal control and they had a report yesterday at 1 and we found where they had gone but then lost the trail. I went home and took a nap and lee went home and came back but still no luck. There are a lot of fences and places they can't go but there are places they can go and we did not check. So much property and so many places for sheep to hide. The good news is I didn't see one snake.

I miss the sheep already. Not sure what I am going to do If I don't have sheep to work. I am so going to have to replace them to have something to do here.

I went out tonight and went to the Square where they have music and dancing. It was ok. Then I went to Starbucks for a coffee and dessert which was more fun. I felt less out of place in Starbucks.

I contacted someone locally that I know and she has sheep for sale but they are all woolies so I would not buy them anyway and they are expensive. She said she might come over tomorrow and help look for the sheep.

The curse of the Vest Tongue

If you have a Vest dog or have seen them work, you know they have generally very long tongues. Hang down to their Knees long. Dually has a very long tongue. Sometimes when he is relaxed the tip of it hangs out of his mouth. It's usually a good thing to have for a working dog, but down here in Fla, in the pasture that I am in there are a lot of small pricker bushes. very sharp prickers and lots of bushes. So when Dually is running around with his tongue hanging out, he often gets his tongue caught on the prickers and is tongue is bleeding quite often. He does try to avoid the bushes since they are in groups but there are a lot of little loose bushes too and it's really hard to avoid them. So I would hope he would learn to keep his tongue in his head, but I doubt it.

Today was my sister Joans birthday and so I bought myself presents. I got a new grille and my new recliner came in. My recliner feels sooooo good.

Tomorrow I go in for my gym evaluation and they will suggest what classes for me and I am looking forward to it. I bought some workout clothes,but I haven't tried them on and I can't see what they look like because I have no mirror. Probably a good thing. I think I might need a pair of sneakers. Maybe I can do stuff in my hiking boots. lol

And today when I worked the dogs, I was very happy. Dually is taking my commands very quickly and his stop is improving. Actually driving around the small pen was "amazing".

Edge is working farther away from me and he looks like he has more intent in his drive. I let him "hit" them yesterday and that increased his intent today.

Sunday

My plan today was to drive over to the Villages and see if I could find where they hold yoga classes. I didn't find the exact place so I stopped in at another Rec building and asked about yoga. They gave me a schedule but told me I had to be a resident or have a guest pass. I have neither. They said the instructor might give me a pass. I will call tomorrow because I still have not found a class locally. I found some shortcuts to places I have been going to regularly so that was a good thing.

I made chocolate chip cookie in a mug today. It was not bad with ice cream. easy to do and voila a cookie.

I worked both dogs twice today. I worked a little on Dually's pace. And then I worked on driving on the fenceline and he did very well at that. I did some flanks too because he was coming in too close. A work in progress

Edgie worked on driving too but I mad him push hard and go fast tonight. I also let him go in and bite to get him more enthusiastic about it. Funny about Edge, When I walked toward him to make him give, he turns and leaves and I mean he tries to get out of the pen.

Saturday

I went to the Lady Lake train museum today which is basically one small room with many docents. Very nice people. I met Bill McKee who was the founding trainer and owner of a gun dog training facility in upstate NY. He and his wife have 5 acres down here and they have 2 remaining Labs. Might need to pick his brain about some training methods.
Then I went to the farm day at Tractor Supply. They had a breeder of NEBU cattle and some young cows there. They are tiny. tiny tiny . Full grown they are not as big as a NEW Foundland dog. They cost between 1200 and 1800 each. Love to have a couple, but not sure if Nat will take them in the winter. Nat???? or maybe Wendy could take them.

Today I worked the dogs in the smaller pen with some bucket obstacles which I drove them around in figure eights and complete flanks and many walk ups. I did the same thing with Edge but I was just closer to him. I stole the buckets from the abandoned property across the street.
Unfortunately, the sheep have learned to go under the fence and escape into the field when I leave during the day so now they will have to stay in the dog kennel area when I am gone galivanting. Tomorrow I am going to drive over to where they have a yoga class. I could not find the place on Fri so now I have a better idea and will scope it out before the next class.

Weather was nice today,sunny and 60's. The cattle hung out under the tree as if they were hot. I tried to fix the auto waterer since it runs all the time and I am paying for the electric. I put some plumbers tape in but it didn't quite solve the problem. I think it slowed it down though.

Edge Driving a little bit

Anybody who is reading could you tell me if these videos are coming out? I have a feeling they are not. I cannot seem to see them play back correctly when I look at them.

Today's work

Lee came over around 9 and we worked dogs a little. He showed me his littermate Bc's who were really nice dogs. The big male "Bubba"he only wants to work on cows and the little female on sheep. I showed him a couple of things on working them but not sure if he was impressed or not. the guy has a lot of book and DVD knowledge. I worked Edge alittle while he was here and then as he was leaving he gave me a phone book to look up furniture stores to find my recliner and a box of satsuma oranges. What a nice guy. He also brought a lawn mower over to clean up where I have to put the sheep in at night. It's kinda prickery over there.

After he left, I worked Dually on long outruns and drives. He made me mad so we quit. Later I worked them both in the smaller pen and they both did very well.

I did laundry today and searched for a recliner again. No luck. Got a movie to watch tonight. Getting late though 8:30 so not sure how much will get watched.

Suburban Herding

Today started out cloudy with the promise of rain. I worked Edge on driving in the small pen and then worked him out in the big field on some outruns. That didn't go very well. I guess I am trying to send him too far too fast. Dually worked on outruns in the big field too and he would not go from my side but did fine when I got in front of him a bit and sent him. His downs were horrible. They got better when he got tired of course. The sheep are perfect for this and great for driving too. Not crazy but will drive easily.

Then I went into town to do laundry only to find out as I open the tailgate that I forgot the laundry so I picked up another movie and went back to the trailer and worked the dogs again before the rain came. It started raining about 1 an it was nice and light and I was sitting under the awning and enjoying it and then it started to get heavier so I went inside. THe forcast did not call for wind so that is why I let the awning out and then the wind started to pick up and I closed it up quick. I dont' want to replace that.

About 5 pm I started to think about putting the sheep away. I could not find them until I looked way out in the back corner way way out, they were there with the cows. There was no way I could send Dually for them because he could not see them and would try and bring cows and sheep so I put him in the car and I took the car down there. It started to rain again about this time so I was happy to be in the car. I got behind them and honked them all the way back to the trailer and let Dually out and he put them away in the dog kennel. I have not seen them drink since they got here so I hope they have done that, but at least the grass has been wet all afternoon and they have been grazing all day.

Tomorrow Lee is going to come over and we are going to work the dogs together. Hope that goes well.

Went to the movies tonight and I saw "Big Eyes" It was ok but the theater was nice. $8.00 for the movies and for $10 more I got huge hot dog,darn big popcorn and a big soda. Great deal comparitively.

sheep have arrived!!

The sheep arrived this morning. There are 5 of them. Looks like 2 rams and some ewes. I worked Dually first in the smallish pen. It's probably 100 by 100 and it's got a lot of pricker bushes in there. I dont' want to walk thru them and neither do the dogs. Mostly in one corner, but Lee left me a shovel so maybe I can remove some of them. This pen does not have a gate, but I managed to pull the fence together to close it in for Edgie. Both dogs did a nice job of keeping the livestock on the fence in the drive. I am going to be able to do huge huge outruns here. 40 acres is a lot of land. I guess it's divided in half with a fence and a gate in the middle so looks like more like 20 acre outruns. I can always drive them to the far corner of the 2nd half and send the dog for them. It will be good for both of them. Dually is not sure he can go that far and Edge is absolutely sure he can't.

Here is the initial set up of trailer and car:

COYOTE DAY

WHen I got up this morning I tracked a coyote walking the middle fence line. Tonight after I got home from shopping, I let the dogs out and then went in the trailer to make a phone call. As I was sitting at my table looking out the window, I see a coyote much closer than this morning . He was wandering around and looking at the trailer where the dogs were out. The dogs could not see him because of the lay of the land. When he started to come closer I went out and spooked him. He left I thought. I went back in and sat at the same table and he came back and sat and stared at the trailer. and then he turned around and put his back to us and sat. Then he started to come over again and I called the dogs in and he stayed around a little while and then wandered off. A gun would have been nice to scare him off or firecrackers, neither of which do I own.

So Lee was here while I was gone and he put up a gate for me and fixed the wiring so it doesn't have to go as far. He is excited about coming to work his dogs and I have told him I would help him. He has never had a lesson and only learned from books and tapes.

COLD YESTERDAY

I stayed in the trailer for most of the morning but when I went out the cows were up close so I decided to try and get them in the area where I could sort them. One did not want to go and started to chase Dually and then I quit. I think I will buy some grain and do it safely. There are 3 calves that would be safe to work if I can get them separated out.
I can keep the grain in the bin I keep my sewer hose in and lock it in the dog kennel over here on the side. I made a scoop out of an empty water bottle this morning . I don't know if they are used to grain but I will need to find something to put the grain in or on because if they have to scramble for it on the ground they aren't going to be as interested. I'll go out today and find a Tractor Supply, I need some dog food anyway.

I stopped at a real estate office yesterday and talked to a realtor about looking for a piece of property. She sent me 3 listings this am but none of them appeal to me.

I found out one of the local Publix groceries does not sell sushi. I need to check the other one because there sushi restaurant was not very good. I had lunch there and gave a lot of it to the dogs. Hard to compete with Kaizen in Sturbridge.

Also stopped at the Grand Oaks resort and museum. It is an outstanding equestrian facility -multi million dollar and it was just beautiful. They weren't open so I did not see the museum but might try again today.

I did a load of laundry because it was a nice warm place to be yesterday and then I came home and made a nice chicken soup and watched a movie that I got a redbox. It is called Belle and based on a true story of a mulatto woman raised in privilege in England in teh 1700's .. It was a good historical movie with a love interest.

Waking up today allowed me to see a ooyote following the fence line across the pasture. The dogs went out and barked but were not in a position to see this thing so not sure what they were barking at.

Lady Lake Fl

I met Lee this morning and we drove a short distance to the site he was offering which includes water,elec,sewer,sheep and cattle. I'm on top of little hill under a tree and tomorrow he is going to come over and we will fence in the trailer and a place for the car. It will also be a safer place to let the dogs out at night. I just heard a bunch of coyotes in the pasture running thru. I would hate to not hear them and let the dogs out at night.

There are plenty of stores nearby so hopefully tomorrow I can go looking for a decent recliner. Also need to look for a place to take how to use a gun courses.

As I drove into this pasture, I hit a low spot (no choice)and bent one of my stabilizer jacks. It still works, but might need replacing anyway.

Satellite dish is up and working. Everything is working which is good because the temp is supposed to drop the next 2 days. Might go down to 50 Ha ha

Training Day with Roger

I got over to the farm about 9;30 and he was already working with 2 guys that were there with there beginner dogs. The dogs had never been on livestock before so it took a while to get them turned on. Pretty much all day. THey were not young pups but young dogs. He started them on goats and with his dog Hank to move the livestock around to get the dogs interested. If the men were more animated, it wouldn't have taken so long to turn the dogs on, but men are men.

Dually and Edge worked parts of the A and B course all day. I worked on trying to position the dog so that on coming to panel 1 the goats are closer to the edge fence and not the panel. When they are closer to the exterior fence, they tend to go farther back to the back fence and not get hung up on the panels. timing timing timing. And then I had to work on the away flank to the fence so that the stock would release and continue on the crossdrive hopefully staying up on the back fence. Coming to Panel 2 , we worked on flanking the dog to the back fence at the right place so when the stock came out , it headed directly towards the center obstacle.

Also worked both dogs on take pens and Dually on retaining control and setting up the drive after the take pen. Continued to work on pulling the dog out on the drive to the panels and used bamboo poles and 2 of us to set the lane for him to work in. That was with Edge who handled the pressure of that very well. Last year, nobody could be in the arena with him or he would quit so he is handling lots of pressure now.

Kathy asked me if he was finished yet, and was surprised to learn he is not even started yet. Probably will start him this year, but I was hoping to finish him in a weekend and right now I can't find a 3 day weekend coming up .

Training alone today

I didn't get to Rogers until after 2pm and I sorted off the billy goat to work dually in close. I had one billy goat(and they all have horns)who took a dislike to my dogs. He slammed Dually a couple of times. Made Dually mad and he got him good but not as good as Edge did later. The goats ear is little shredded now. Too bad for him, but it didn't make much of an impression.

The exercise I attempted with Dually was close and involved many panels and it was to make Dually release the livestock and still go around and maintain control. He did it a couple of times but 2 times out of 20 is not very many. I worked him later in the arena on 3 nice billys and we worked on staying on their hip and not behind them on the drive up to the panels. He is getting better. He did get into a pissing contest in one corner with the goats that of course he caused. Then I set up the center pen which was no mean feat since I was alone. I did a couple of pens but the goats were too cooperative. So I went and worked on take pens instead. Most of them were good except when I demanded an away take. He hates that. the 2d one was good after he realized I was going in there after him if he was going to be an asshole.

I worked Edgie on the closer panels too and he releases more easily so I worked on flanks, since he is good but not great on them and I need short and inside flanks for everything, but especially duckwork. He had words with bad Billy and bad billy got better. I worked on take pens with Edge since he hasnt done many. I stood on the opposite side of the gate and held my stick inside and made him come towards me on a go bye and he did a very very nice job. We worked them down the side and I pulled him out to stay on the goat hip. It's a work in progress. I had the Y chute set up when I worked him and so I had an opportunity to flank him around on the 2nd panel and stop him and get the Y chute. What I have noticed is sometimes it's hard to get him to move faster. It 's not too bad when he is bringing stock towards me , but when I want him to walk up faster, I cannnot get it "yet".

Lesson

Today I had a lesson with Roger. We tried to duplicate Dually holding the ducks in the corner and we could not get him to hold today. So we worked on keeping Dually out away from the fence and holding the livestock on the fence. He tends to make them turn off the fence too early so this was really good for him. I used a Come instead of inside flank but I will go back to the inside flank soon.

As good as Dually is, Edgie is going to be 10x better. I worked him on the ducks a little bit. I think he has a problem grouping but he was better today than he was the last time we worked ducks here. Maybe because I was more prepared for it to happen. Then he worked 3 calves. What a nice job he did. He goes in and around and gathers them up and brings them all to me very quietly. We worked on inside flanks with him because he tends to go a little flat so we worked on widening that a bit with buckets for markers. The we worked on the fenceline and getting him to set them up for the center and also working on pulling him to me so that again he is not getting behind the and pulling them off the fence.


Went out to the movies with Kathy and we saw " The Theory of Everything" (the life story of Stephen Hawking).It was very good.

HAPPY NEW YEAR?

Let's hope so.

I got the trailer back all fixed at noon yesterday and drove back to the campground and set it up completely. The heat worked !!!! The vent worked over the stove and I have a brand new tongue jack to replace my brand new tongue jack. LOL. I took the dogs for a run and a swim in a puddle and then spent the afternoon with Josh who is the son of the mangager/owner of this trailer park. He tried to get the dish to work in the back bedroom. We could not get it to work, but we found out definitively that it is only wired to work off of the antenna in the bedroom . Fine I can live with that now that I know.


I met Roger and Kathy for dinner at Applebees and we stayed for 2.5 hrs talking. Lots of fun. Lots of conversation. Kathy and I are going to go to see "The Theory of Everything" tomorrow. Hope it's good. I am going to work with Roger today and maybe on Sat depending on the weather.

oh and BTW. Dually is not loving the INSTICT dog food so back to the drawing board. Still begging him to eat.