The Days Are Getting Longer

Finally the weather is getting a little nicer. The dogs seem to like it as well... I think cabin fever had been setting in. Been working a lot these days, but at the moment I am working at Nanton, and have been lucky to been able to bring a few dogs down to work at Naomi and Bill Shields after work. Naomi had said something to me which I have known for quite awhile - and I am paraphrasing - there are a lot of nice people in the dog trialing community. I would have to agree.

Having the weekend off, I can spend a little more time with the rest of the dogs - bringing out the yearlings out to put them through the paces. I feel now we have a good number of dogs - there was a time when it was quite overwhelming, and felt like nobody was getting justice. Let's see, there is Fly (who will die with me), Gin(at this moment, too expensive to buy), Creed (a Fly son and also Fly's half brother if you want to get technical-line breeding is a wonderful thing), Floss (the nursery bitch out of Fly and by A. Milliken's Clive), Mitch (another Fly son by our nephew's Bill dog, almost a year of age) , Tim (a Gin x Creed year old for sale-got to sell something right?), Lyn (the last pup out of Fly and Clive - well, the only pup really out of the litter), June (Chris's new dog, and won't sell her for anything, at least not at this time), Jill (Chris's main trial dog), Cap (Chris's main ranch dog - and I think would be a pretty fair trial dog as well if he would stop flossing his teeth) , Jet (a pup kept back from Cassie and Bill) and Penny (just a pup, really doesn't count, as well as her remaining sisters, Swift and Purdy). On the JRT side of things, I have been trying to shave the numbers as well. Artie (will remain), Cliff (the main one legged stud dog), Billie (the one eyed girl is looking with her other eye for a home), Yola (is looking for her new retirement home), Tessa (is going to live in Edmonton), Tranna (will be the new brood bitch), Lizzie (who will be the matriarch female) and Willie (Billie and Cliff's son, who was returned, and now will be the next stud dog). So let's count -14 border collies minus Tim, Swift and Purdy will be 11, and 8 JRTs minus the 3 old girls will make it 5. When you think the old dogs really don't count, that actually decreases the number further - since older trained dogs really aren't that much bother - so that would decrease the number by another 3 dogs. So 13 dogs isn't that many at all, And one can never the upcoming puppies from Gin coming - not unless I keep one of them. And you can't count the guardian dog Mike or our nephew's Joey's dog Joy either. No, we don't have many dogs at all. Just a lot of mouths to feed that is all. I am starting to feel overwhelmed again, so will end with this math lesson.

Over the week in Nanton I had taken Floss out a couple of times, and have been pleased with her progress - her driving is coming along quite nicely. She is a quick one, and will be fun to run. The main dogs I will have to run this year will be her, Creed and Gin. I plan to keep running Fly in arena trials - she cannot quit cold turkey. She is helping quite a bit these days helping with the young dogs - she is a great portable fence for the sheep. She still is worth her weight in gold - all 30 pounds of her.

The teenagers, Jet and Lyn, are setting their sights on the sheep and cattle these days, so one has to keep a keen eye on these two, or they are out working.

Jet is 6 months now, and soon she is going to have her cord back on to remind her of her name.

Lyn knows her name quite well, thanks to 1200 pound test climbing rope.

Christine Jobe is going to be around these parts with her sheep and an arena - we might just let these girls go and see what they have. These two might have to ride in Dora.
And this is Dora the Explorer - after 310,000 KM on my Jeep (whose name was Mildred), it was time to retire her. I had an uneasy feeling that her BMW transmission was once again going to give me the proverbial finger. After 17 years of driving Jeeps, I decided to part ways and dabble in the Ford. I do believe Dora will be okay, it is slightly bigger than the Jeep, so if I have any company with me on dog trials, there should be more than enough room.

I am not sure what the salesman thought when I said I didn't care about the color, but needed exactly 46 cm across for it to be usable. With the upcoming trial season, it will be used well.