Sunny days and working dogs

I'm pretty sure I've been transported to another galaxy, because this surely can't be Alberta at the end of November!! Today was such an awesome day......beautiful blue sunny skies, no wind and WARM (relative term, since this really is Alberta in November) temperatures! So after that pesky housework was done, out I went to start dog breaking calves. Chili still needs lots of cattle work, and so we brought about 10 head up into my round pen and started moving them, first one way, then the other. With Betty's lessons at her clinic last June ringing in my ears, it was pretty cool to see Chili respond so well. She really likes to heel but I found her equally good at holding her position on their heads when they tried to turn and challenge her. Chili did really well, she was able to control and move the calves, turn them back when they challenged her, and would easily release pressure on them when they turned and moved off her.

After we worked that group of calves, we put them back with the rest and then brought the sheep in and sorted off 5 head. We took the sheep into my arena and after a few fetching drills started some driving work. Unlike her mother, Chili has been a hard dog to start driving as her intense desire to group her stock and fetch them to me over-rides everything :) Parallel drives are very rounded as she leans so hard to the outside to flip around to head, but *FINALLY* today we managed to get some nice drives going!! Maybe the secret is to work her on cattle first as she seems to be able to easily hold her position driving them.

We'll try again tomorrow and work a different group of calves, and then another group of sheep.....hopefully this is the breakthrough I've been waiting for! ;o)

For those of you interested in the puppies, they are eating me out of house and home and growing like crazy! The whelping box has been put up, and they have the run of their puppy room now. I cover the floor with paper that I get by the roll at the newspaper office. It is roll-end newsprint and works great for covering the floor. Larry made me an over-grown paper towel holder that is attached to the wall. This makes it really easy to pull off 8 feet and with a flip of the wrist I can rip if off. The puppies are certainly getting an education, they are pretty used to that thing bumping and banging when the roll turns on it, and the paper goes sailing over their head :o) Then I get 8 little bodies trying to "help" me........I think we'll have to come up with a different plan at room cleaning time!

Will try for more photo updates tomorrow!

Puppy Photo shoot

Well, its been a busy week! Last weekend some good friends came for the day to work dogs, and play with the pups. We had a great time working our dogs, my sheep got a good workout, and we figured out some portions of the Farm Trial we hope to have here next summer. Then we went inside and had lunch and the puppies got to come upstairs and have their pictures taken. Thanks to Cathy Bishop for the great photos!! I had fully intended to have the pictures all upload Sunday night, but its hard to upload pics behind closed eyelids...somehow a full day out in the fresh air took a toll on me :) Then on Monday, Larry and I went to the Flu Clinic in town and got H1N1 flu shots.......monday night seemed to bring more of those closed eyelids :( So finally here we are!

http://picasaweb.google.com/LBarJcowdogs/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmfgufG8a-oFQ#

The pups are growing leaps and bounds ( there was some mention of little tanks ) they have a new puppy feeding pan, and they're making good use of it! The whelping box has been put up......the little mountain climbers could scale the sides with ease, so they are now sleeping in a big crate with a nice thick comforter in it. They probably won't think its too cool the day I put the door on the crate, but that lesson is a ways down the road yet :)

Enjoy Cathy's photography!

Joan

Looking At The World

Here is a few pictures of the pups, and a couple of short videos, and a few pictures of some of the newly weaned calves. Since I've never used the video portion of my camera before, I wasn't even sure if it was on! It did seem to work tho, so I will have to investigate this part of my camera and see if I can't get something better taken. For now, this will have to do :o) This weekend some friends are coming to work dogs and both Cathy and Lyn have much better cameras than me (and they know what they're doing with them too!) So we should have much better pictures of them soon! The kids had their nails clipped for the first time, and tonight they also got their first taste of puppy mush.........mmmmmm, Kya thought they tasted pretty good when she was cleaning them up! Cheers until the weekend!

Joan

http://picasaweb.google.com/LBarJcowdogs/20091116?authkey=Gv1sRgCJe9_d_VsM7AhwE&feat=directlink#

2 Weeks old

The puppies are getting quite mobile....they are learning to get up on their feet, and their eyes are just on the verge of starting to crack open. Thankfully Kya has decided to become a good mom again! :o) I didn't have to come home from work yesterday, and last night I got to sleep in my bed again :o)) The pictures were taken today at two different times. The ones taken on the green plaid were taken earlier, I didn't have such great success with them, so I deleted all the 'really' bad ones, :o) Then I decided to try again this afternoon right after they had eaten so they were a little more sleepy and slightly more cooperative!



Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/LBarJcowdogs/PuppiesNov11

Repairs and Curious Cows

Today was a beautiful day, so after some morning household chores it was time for some outside fix-ups. The pad around the south waterer has been deteriorating for a while now, and we thought we'd better get it fixed up before winter really hits. It is made of railroad ties laid side by side and joined together, and the outside ones were in bad shape. So we hauled all the stuff out there to pry out the old ones and put in new ones, and of course the cows all decided that would be the best time to come for a drink and some mineral. And then of course they thought they'd all better stick around to see what we were up to. It didn't seem to matter to them that they were really in the way of the tractor either, so after a few feeble attempts to move them the heck out of the way, I went up to the house to get Chili :o)

In short order Chili had gathered them all and had them heading out to pasture! She did a beautiful job of keeping them altogether until they got the gate into the 60 acre pasture. Right there are few turned right and headed up the fenceline instead of going thru the gate. Chili went thru the gateway, then headed up the fence on the opposite side from the renegades, got in front of them, turned them and headed them back down the fence and thru the gate. All without any direction from me what so ever! She took them part way out into the field and by this time I had made my way out to the field gate and called her back. We went back and helped Larry finish placing new ties around the water bowl, and just as he was nearly done, back the cows and calves came for round two! Once again Chili gathered them all and pushed them back out to pasture :) We finished up the pad and it is now ready for the gravel truck to bring a load of gravel in.......I think we'll close the gate when the truck comes so the cows don't come and supervise THAT job :)

WE're a WEEK old!!

Time flies! All was well in puppy land until Day 3 when Kya decided maaaaybe she didn't love her puppies quite that much :( She started to growl a bit at them, prompting me to panic and take her into the Vets on Sunday night.....haven't got THAT bill yet. Anyway, all is normal and well with her, I just can't figure out what is prompting the growl, so until this little chapter clears up, she is only allowed feeding/cleaning visits during the day, which she desperately wants to do, and I am sleeping by the whelping box at night, to monitor what goes on. hormones....aren't they a mystery! So here is the latest round of pictures. They are SO active, its very hard to catch them still enough to snap a decent picture!

http://picasaweb.google.com/LBarJcowdogs/KyaXTrayPuppiesNov409?authkey=Gv1sRgCOL-3ZOS5KyR1QE#

Enjoy :)