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.

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.

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.

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.

AKC Agility Trial

Friday I left work early to pick up Carol and Skyler and head to an AKC agility trial in Vancouver Washington about a 1 ¼ hours drive. Friday was for Excellent level dogs only. Kant had a lovely Standard run with no knocked bars but we got a refusal on the third obstacle from the end and in AKC you must be perfect. Jumpers we managed to knock one bar in each run Friday and Saturday but both runs were fast and beautiful. We did get a Q and 1st in Excellent A FAST finishing our XF title. Thank goodness for FAST and a distance dog since that was our only Q for the weekend. FAST is a class that does not have a numbered course but all the obstacles are given a point value and there is a distance challenge that usually includes at least 3 obstacles at about 20 feet from a line the handler can not cross. So you make up your own course and you need to earn 63 points in 35 seconds to Q, Kant got 78 points in 38 seconds so we lost 3 points for each second over time and ended up with 75 points. Carol had a funeral on Saturday so she drove herself and wanted me to run Skyler in her Jumpers run. I did not watch Carol’s Standard run because I did not want to know if she got a Q and a double QQ was on the line that would be too much pressure. But a mutual friend of ours came up to me right before the Jumpers run and said did I see that Skyler Q’d in Standard now the pressure was on. I was worried about Skyler making the weave pole entry and taking an off-course tunnel but none of that happened and with each obstacle I was thinking Double Q on the line. We ended up with a Q and 8 MACH points giving Carol and Skyler their third Double Q. Qing in one class is hard enough but to Q in both classes seems near impossible to me. I did not enter on Sunday I needed a day at home but Carol and Skyler went on to Double Q again, two Double Qs in a weekend is amazing only 16 more to go. Saturday during our standard run I made the biggest and worst handler’s error and pulled Kant off a wonderful run when I was sure she had made a mistake. It was the most frustrating and embarrassing mistake I have ever made. I really wanted a pity party on what a horrible handler I was but I called Lora instead and she told be to GET OVER IT. It really bothered me because what I strive for it complete constancy in my training and trialing with honest corrections and that was NOT an honest corrections. I really needed to find something positive in a very negative situation so I vowed to myself to lighten up and NEVER pull Kant from a course unless there is blood involved. I am a better handler then that and Kant is a BETTER dog then that and needed my complete trust in her. I did pull it back together and our next two runs were near perfect. Why are dogs so forgiving? I promise to strive to become the handler my dog deserves!! Do I know it all, not even close but I will continue to learn and become the best handler I can. Lora went to a herding trial in Tulelake California which is about a 5 hour drive so she had lots of time to think. We talked on her way home and she said something to me that I will always remember the difference between a great athlete/performer/handler and a mediocre one is their recovery time. Everyone makes mistakes but it is how they respond to it and recovers from it that puts them a head of most and makes them the best. I want to be the BEST.
Agility photos provided by Joe Camp.

With Lora gone on Sunday I went out and fed the sheep. Here is Kant looking over the pregnant sheep grazing on the way back to their field. And of course after everyone was fed and happy it was time to play. Kant is the only one that ever gets the ball so everyone chases her and then gets back before her. I am still making them sit so I can pick up the ball. I love going home with happy and tired dogs. Another great weekend!!!