What a Fun day!

Yesterday morning, Me, Chris,Hank,and Bear loaded up and headed out to Julie's farm for lessons with Robin. I got there per my usual half an hour late, but no one seem to notice, or, they are all getting so use to Darci standard time that they realize when I say 9:00am, what I really mean is between 9 and 10am. LOL
I was pretty nervous about working Chris, we have been doing so well at home, I was hoping she was becoming comfortable with working and not just working here at home. We really have been working hard to correct some of her and my....shortcomings,and I have been so proud of her, but was nervous non the less. For me, the real test would be taking her someplace else and on different sheep, and seeing if all that we have been working on translated to other places and other sheep. Too, I have been working her on my field, and I wanted to take her back in the round pen where the pressure was the highest, and see if she could/would maintain her new found ease and courage, and not fall back into her fearful sheep eating ways. When we work on the field, she is able to go off contact if she starts to feel to much pressure, but in the round pen, theres no where to go. I was very elated to see her working with ease and with a thoughtful workman like attitude and handling herself in the appropriate manner. She eased around the sheep, almost floating between sheep and fence and kept a nice pace, as opposed to her zinging past them as she had done in the past and taking hold of the first sheep she could get her teeth into. She didn't try to take any sheep down, and those rare couple of times that she did try to grip, one word, and she was outta there and back where she belonged. Then we took her out on the big field, another tense moment for me, as I knew she knew if she wanted to, she could run down a sheep and take it down and maul it and would/could be far enough away to do her damage before anyone could get to her in time to stop it. She has done this in the past, and so I really tried hard to remember to trust my dog, but for Chris and I, this was a real test to determine if all the hard work we have been doing over the last month of working almost daily had really paid off. I am very proud of my dog today. She proved to me that she is worthy of the trust, and that she really wants to work with me and be correct. Which just spurs me on to do even better work and keep this positive vein going for us both. What might seem like trivial baby steps to some, for Chris and I, and where we started back getting into working her again almost a year ago, well, we've come a long way. This was a dog, I really didnt ever want to work again, because she was so dangerous that I feared for the sheep. But I just knew if we could get her straightened back out, that she had it in her to be a nice dog, and Im seeing that come true now, and am loving it! Robin gave us some home work to take home and work on, and it is going to be fun helping her develop her pace and learning to feel her power. We will be heading to Robin's farm next weekend to work some, so I hope that by then we can show her that her time with Chris and I has been well spent.
Bear, and I went first to the round pen, as I hadn't worked him in small spaces and was interested to see how he performed under that kind of pressure. Needless to say, he did well. I got a lot of ribbing about my "free dog" but it was all positive and everyone thought he was a nice dog. So do I. Later we took him on the big field, and again he did a nice job with what he knows and we got home work for him to take home and work on too, which will help him to cast out a bit more on his flanks. He is a bit slicy, but was showing improvements once I figured out (for the most part) what Robin was trying to explain to me, and I got to see what she was talking about. I'm really enjoying Bear, I couldn't have asked for a nicer boy. He and Chris are so different that both are going to teach me alot.
Julie took Hank in the round pen for me, as I asked her to see if she could get him circling and fetching a bit, and see if he could find his balance. It was very unfortunate, that one of the sheep, decided to split off and take a dive into the fence, which cut our work time short. He did however start to do a little circling, and I was pleased to see that. I have a feeling its going to be awhile before Hank gets to working. He is relatively keen, but so much puppy still. I saw him pick up a mouth full of sheep poo, and try to wander off a couple of times. Not things I like to see in a young dog, but that could change, so I will keep him off sheep for a couple more months and see how he does again later. He is just 6 months, so we're in no big hurry to get him going anytime soon. All in all, it was a great day. We met a few new friends, and got to visit with the not so new ones. My dogs performed well, and I was very happy with them. We had a great lunch which rendered most of us, full and lazy afterwards, but that didn't stop us from going back out and working more dogs! I finally got to see Becca's Ted working. I hadn't gotten to see him working since the JK clinic last January. What a change! He is doing so nicely, and what a handsome guy. Too, I was pleased to get to watch Laura's youngen Link working. He is going to be loads of fun for Laura, and a nice fella. Her and her "Mad Spaghetti Noodle" are quite the sight to see and I marveled at Laura's ability to wield that 8 foot piece of plastic pipe! I got to shake hands with a really cute little corgi, who was steadfast in making sure no water got out of the baby pool all day, snuggle and kissed on a sweet little 6 week old BC pup, and enjoyed watching all the other folks working their dogs. It was a good turnout, and Robin had her work cut out for her. I did in fact bring along my camera, but it stayed in the truck. There were a number of other folks taking vid and stills and I am hoping to see what they got soon, so sorry, maybe next time I'll have some to post, but yesterday, I just wasn't in the picture taking mood. Again, I want to thank Julie and Robin for their time and hospitality, it takes a special kind of person to set aside their own personal time for others, and to share their knowledge, and I appreciate them immensely for that, as I attribute most of Chris' and my success to their time, and faith in me and my dog. So this week, we will be doing our home work, and hopefully making more progress towards the ultimate goals of correct, happy, useful working dogs. (and maybe I'll even break out the camera)

HEY EVERYONE!

BRUIN SAYS, FIND A WAY TO GET OUT... AND VOTE!

 

Oops!

Well, playing in the woods, we decided wasnt really a smart option, as it is hunting season, and our place abuts up to several others properties, and so we high tailed it back to the pond. Bear got there first, he's now well versed in where the pond is and has this Im so cool look like "Hey! What took ya so long!"

Chris, who had weaseled out of her Time Out, because.....

Really now. Who could resist this face?

Besides, she offered to find Bear a new stick.

And,teach Hank how to dive for frogs.

To which Hank replied...Does she really think Im going to do that?

And so it begins....

So we decided to head for the pond today. Chris, Cain and Andy know the way. Seeing as this was Bear's first trip to the pond, he kinda got mixed up as to which way to go.
Hey, the pond is the other way!

 

Once he found his way however, it didnt take him long to figure out why we were there. Look! Its a bird, its a plane, NO! Its Otter Dog! I guess this answered my question if he liked to swim.

Cris on the other hand, er paw, had better things to do besides swim. She remembered the frogs the last time she was there and was looking for more.

Her dire need to find a frog was bordering on the obsessive. So much so that it was starting to scare me.

And with good reason.
OK Lady, Give me the snorkle and no one gets hurt.

Meanwhile,Bear has been looking for the perfect stick, one of which he found and decided to parade around with it while....

Waiting for Chris to be allowed off from her "Time Out"
Damned obsessive frog hunting dog! Well, I had to do some thing to make her stop!

Hank said he saw something out in the woods....

But it was only Andy.

And Cain

And Chris! Who seems to have not only snuck her way out of her time out, but has also stolen Bear's stick too!

So, while Andy and Bear ran off to find Bear another stick....

Well, I guess you'll have to check back and see....

Head for the Hills!

Oh boy, are you guys ever in for it! Do people still say that nowadays? I know that's what my brothers and I use to say to each other when we were kids when one or the other of us were gonna be in hot water with the parents. It was like a bad omen to hear it, coming off the lips of the one who "wasn't" going to be in trouble, usually followed by a sly and all knowing grin. Scary words those were. Not so scary today though, as "in for it" holds a slightly different meaning. My meaning today is that I just picked up batteries for my camera. BUT! Not just any old batteries, Rechargeable Batteries!! It took me awhile to find my charger, seems if you lay some thing down for more than a month around here, it ends up in the scary dark abyss that is my sons room. His excuse is, "Well, it was laying around for over a month and no one was using it!" So, borrow it, and put it back! Asking would have been a thoughtful gesture as well. It scares me when things go into Kyle's room. Some things never make it back out. And those things that do, are not always in one piece anymore, IF, and that's a big IF he can find them in a timely manner at all before I loose my temper and go in there and start cleaning. I have what is called a gobble sack. All my children know what the gobble sack is, and the smart ones fear the gobble sack. Things go into the gobble sack never to be seen again. Quite like Kyle's room. So he should understand the theory. What I really find amusing, is that my daughter who now has 3 children of her own has adopted the gobble sack idea with her children, and I just find that humorous, as she had always said she wouldn't be like me when it came to raising HER kids. Ha! I guess some things really did make a lasting impression. Anyway, I digress, I could write chapters about the day to day life with a 13 year old boy, especially this one! Not to mention the raising of the other two who now are respectfully 28 and 25 yrs, and raising kids of their own, and doing it, not unlike like they were raised. Funny how things go full circle.
But, to get back on topic. I had been using batteries that Bobby was getting from his work, and he was getting a little annoyed that I kept ransacking his stash, (kinda make ya wonder where Kyle got that not asking before borrowing thing?) And so he found a new hiding place for his sacred stash of batteries which forced me to go buy my own. Ive learned from experience, that the cheap batteries that I was....stealing, OK, I admit it, it was stealing, but hey! We are married! Whats his is mine right!? Anyway, those cheepo batteries werent worth a crapo, and wouldn't hardly last through 2 photo sessions before they died on me. Leaving me with Oh so many missed Kodak moments. So while shopping for Halloween candy yesterday, I saw this big glowing display of batteries in the Super WalMart that immediatly drew me to it like a moth to a flame. My eyes, (and hands) fell on the really good rechargeable ones, and I couldn't get them in my cart fast enough! Why hadn't I thought of this before? Was I getting to much pleasure from sneaking Bobby's batteries? I think that may have been the case. I did, mind you, put them back when I was done with them, albeit, used up and dead, but I guess that little courtesy didn't matter much to him. The old grump.
So now, I have these new rechargeable batteries, and I put them in my camera. All excited to get to taking pictures, and guess what??!! The damn things don't work! Ive got Diva's and dogs lined up eagerly awaiting their photo shoots, and dead batteries! Hence, having to venture into my sons room to find my charger. Just opening his bedroom door, and peeking in was giving me pause to think about picking the lock where the grumpy selfish husband was keeping his new stash of batteries hid. But, I persevered, and dove in and at last we found the charger. Then of course, we had to find the charger cord, which of course you know wouldst not be my good fortune to be WITH! the charger. Eventually, we found that too. It was no easy task. It was in a drawer, mixed in with all, and I do mean ALL the Nintendo, PSP, X Box, cords, chargers and anything else slightly resembling a cord and frustratingly intertwined into a mass of what resembled a pile of mating black snakes! (insert sarcasm here,) Oh goodie.
So guess who got to untangle all the cords for 30 minutes until my poor charger cord was released from the black tangled mass. No, you think me? NOT! It probably would have been easier to do it myself, but I was to busy with the gobble sack!
So, to make a long story short, the batteries are now charging, and Boy are you guys in for it! Cause I'm going to be shooting shot after shot of anything and everything I find even remotely picturesque, and posting it here for your viewing pleasure. Scary isn't it?