Sunday, September 26, 2010

Sunday with the Sheep

Milk cans against the fence

Alex with her dog, Tilly

Tilly is scattering the herd, Alex is trying to stop her

Aren't they beautiful?

Gracie herding

Linda trying to direct Gracie
We all met at the farm this morning. There was Alex with her blue heeler named Tilly. Amy was there with her border collies, Debit and Sassy. And I had Gracie and Sarge.

Leah, our trainer, took Alex and Tilly first. They told me it would be a good idea to just have Sarge out with me so he could watch the sheep. Right. I was standing at the fence taking pictures of Alex, Tilly, Leah and the sheep, and Sarge sat next to me, the entire time. With his back turned towards the activity. Not once did the little fart look at the sheep, at Tilly, nada. So he went back into the car, which is what he wanted to begin with.

I took 172 pictures this morning, so there will be more sheep related posts this week. But Amy was kind enough to take a few shots of Gracie in the pen. The above photos are the second time we went in to work. The first time I had a slight accident. Gracie was excited as only she can be to get out of the car and into the pen because THAT'S WHERE THE SHEEP ARE, MOM! Consequently she was running around like crazy, the sheep decided to move and I was in the middle. I did start to bend my knees to brace myself, but everyone was moving too fast, and down I went. Face first. That wasn't bad enough, but the sheep ran over me. One of them brought their foot down, hard, on the inside of my left thigh. Oh yeah. It feels like I've been stomped.

On the positive side, I am seeing definite improvement in Gracie's responses. She is stopping when we ask, staying out away from the sheep when we command. You can see the light bulb go off above her head. OH, THIS is what they want! I really don't know if I'll ever enter her in competition or not. I'm doing this for the exercise, and for the mental challenge for Gracie. This is so good for her. She is a smart dog who can become bored easily, and I want her to have something to think about.

We're going back this Wednesday. We missed 2 weeks due to vacations and illness, so I want to get her back soon this time around. Sarge will stay in the car. He's thinking about taking up knitting. Have a good one.
Linda

No comments:

Post a Comment