Thursday, February 26, 2009

LET THE RACING BEGIN…

The babies are about two weeks old now and still extremely cute. The little girl with chocolate ears is still my favorite but they are all too cute and fun to watch. They are getting to the age where they are having “lamb races”. All the babies get together in a group whispering to each other and then they take off running across the field, they get to the other side huddle together whispering again, and they take off again. This only seems to happen early morning and late evening and only lasts for a few minutes. You must stop everything you are doing to watch; it is the funniest thing. Lora and I were talking Saturday and she said I needed to come out Sunday morning to watch the lamb races; of course I was there!
After the races were over we got a couple of chores done and then Lora asked if I wanted to work Echo; YES! We have not herded for a long time between the weather, holidays, busy schedules, and lambing. I was ready to work Echo again. We headed into the hogs fuel field that is about 100’x120’ where there were 4 sheep waiting for us. Echo went on a lovely little away outrun and tucked in nicely behind the sheep bringing them to me. She changed directions with very nice flanks keeping good distance off the sheep. We are working on a Stand which Echo is starting to take quicker and then back to work. Echo was responding very nicely to the tiniest correction. There is a tree about ¾ the way down the field right in the middle; we took the sheep around the tree very close and split 3 off on one side of the tree and one with me; Echo went out and tucked those three in to me perfectly and I was in complete amazement. We ended with a good That’ll Do and left one of the best herding days I have had with Echo. THANK YOU LORA!!!

Valentine’s Weekend

Normally Valentine’s is not my favorite day but this year it fell on a Saturday on a perfect weekend! I got the opportunity to dog sit for Anne of Border Creek Border Collie Rescue and take care of three of her rescues. Of course she went and spayed/neutered two of them the day before I started house sitting so they were on limited activity over the weekend and the third one was deaf. It was still great fun spending time with all three; the deaf one was my favorite. Anne has several cats that I did not have for do anything with and only saw a couple in the great enclosed cat walk in the backyard. She also has two llamas that are very curious and can get to one of the windows in the room I was staying. I woke Saturday morning to them staring in at me; very funny.













Anne and her husband have a beautiful piece of property in Southwest Corvallis that is several acres. She has a large area full of agility equipment with a wonderful wooded area behind it. The other half of the property behind the house is fenced off for the llamas. And in the very back of the property is a beautiful deck with the most comfortable chairs that looks over a huge grass field with Mary’s Peak in the Coast Range as the perfect background. Saturday I spent the day watching movies take the dogs for walks and enjoy my mini-vacation. Sunday Jordana did not work so she came out to work dog in agility, have lunch, and hang out. After working dogs and having lunch we walked back to the deck to enjoy the view. It was a beautifully warm afternoon and Jordana went to the store for some lemonade. We spent several hours enjoying the warmth on the deck trying not to nap. The llamas hung out with us and it was very obvious that they are around dogs; our dogs were curious at the first meeting but completely left them alone with all the places to explore. While walking the property it was very clear that the dogs enjoy living there because there were toys everywhere. Kant quickly found the Chuck-It! Hanging from the tree next to the deck. Two days was just not enough and I hope to get the opportunity to do this again!! Thank you Anne!!!

While I was in Corvallis relaxing baby lambs
were arriving right and left keeping Lora very busy.

Baby lambs are the cutest!!
With a nose like that this baby must have been born on Valentine's Day.
This is my favorite!
Some of the older ones were pushed outside with their moms to make room for the new ones arriving.
The babies are still staying very close to their moms.

This baby is just minutes old.

It is amazing how quickly they are up.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

PUPPY LOVE

Amelia came to work with her mom on Friday for a couple of hours until dad came to pick her up.
I could not miss a photo op with Amelia.

Too cute!!!

For more cute Amelia Rawe pictures check out Heidi's blog; the link is on the top right of my blog.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

TWIN RAMS and A BABY GIRL



This morning Lora went out to the ranch at 3:30am; no she did not call me to come out and meet the twin rams she was blessed with.

These are two healthy boys weighing in at 8 and 8 1/4 pounds.


When Lora went back at 7am she was greeted with a baby girl.


This little girl is a half sister to the first ewe to lamb this year.


The twins wanted to check out their new twin boy cousins.



Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Here come the baby lambs...


Rocking Dog Ranch had the first baby lambs of 2009 born this morning. They are a set of twins. A seven pound boy and a seven and half pound girl.
This is a first time mom and not a ewe that was planned to be a mom this year but the ram had ideas of his own. Lora called me first thing this morning and said that she knew there were babies as soon as she opened the door but this was not the ewe that she thought would have babies first and she was surprised to find twins. Everyone is doing great. And they are enjoying their heat lamp.I had to stop by on my way home from work and see the new lambs. I got to hold them while they got their first shots and help weigh them. Their first day really wore them out. Be sure to check out Lora's blog for more pictures and stories. http://rockingdawgs.blogspot.com/

Busy Lives

Where does the time go? I feel like I am at home all the time but when I really stop and think about it we are pretty busy. Last week I started a second agility class with Echo on Tuesday nights; her puppy class is just about to come to an end on Thursday night. Last Wednesday night Heidi and I took a beading class at the Bead Trunk. I was not feeling well and only finished about a third of it. I am house sitting this coming up weekend for Anne and I will take that project with me to work on while I am staying there. I will post pictures after I finish it. While in class the instructor should us a project for a Monday during lunch class. Heidi and I signed up for that class and Jordana was able to join us between school and work. It was a fun class of twisting wire and then hammering it.







Jordana is very busy with going to school full time and working at PetSmart almost full time. She is keeping up with her school work and will graduate from Western Oregon University this May. Here is what she looks like after working on homework and then taking a cat nap.







Last Sunday I attended a full day agility seminar. WAG brought in Susan Perry and Sandra Katzen for a Secrets Revealed seminar on walking courses. I am discovering I do not learn much at seminars. I love the way Susan handles her aussies and always enjoy working with her. Any day doing agility is a good day.