Who Would Think..

...shipping dogs would be difficult. I have travelled with dogs before, brought dogs from the UK to Canada, travelled to Ontario and travelled to Virgina. All I want to to send a puppy down to Texas. I am not sure what is wrong with Air Canada, but there is an embargo until March 30th. Continental will only send if they have done business with you in the past 30 days. Guess this is all due to some ink cartridges with a bomb. The only bomb that would be dropped, is a load of turd from a pup. On second thought, that would likely clear an airport out. In the meantime, I will continue on my quest to find transportation for little Lilly. All this is making me nervous about the World's - what trouble will that be like. I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...I should be very strong.

Windy Trip

Today I took a quick trip down to Scott and Jenny's for Gin to have a rendevous with Don. I heard on the news that there were gusts up to 130km per hour - which would explain the multiple number of vehicles in the ditch upside down. I wish I had my camera with me as I drove up to the Glen residence - there was Scott in the field, and if one didn't know it, you would have thought he was by himself - but through the drifting snow you could see the shadows of sheep and a dog coming towards him. My immediate thought was - this would definitely help train a dog to hear - a pretty good return for the windblown hair look (or lack of it, depend whose hair you are talking about).
A couple of coffees later, I struck out for home, leaving Gin behind. Hearing Jenny talk about the Don pups that are out already, and having a conversation with Grant Musgrove, I am having pretty high hopes on these pups. Of course, this is counting the chickens before the eggs. Perhaps she will ovulate 5 eggs, a nice number. Or maybe half a dozen.
I have a few days off before I work again, so I would like to put the young dogs through some paces. If only we had a wide open space - at the moment there are drifts everywhere. Oh, I can't wait for spring!

Other Things To Keep My Mind Busy

Along with the impeding move, another adventure is underway for myself. One of my goals with the trialing addiction was to go to as many different trials as possible. Three years ago, the circus was taken on the road to Kingston, Ontario for the Kingston Sheepdog Trial - and I have gone every year since. Seeing different people and watching different dogs is what it is all about. Airplane travel isn't that stressful with the dogs, but you always have to be on your toes. That was learned the hard way when another big trip to Virginia in the fall with the dogs was a bit rocky when we missed our flight. Then of course, there was the big tadoo to bring Gin back home from Virginia - her being left to get bred - to which that job didn't get done because she didn't cycle. Lots of learning was done. Call it continuing education if you like. Now I am looking forward to the trials in this year. Louanne Twa and myself are going to take a trek out to the Bluegrass this May in Kentucky-we'll fly to Chicago and drive the rest of the way. We will be sure not to take the off-ramp into Harlem, we'll just stay in the center lane of the 6 lane expressway. Would like to take a couple of the dogs, Gin will go, and maybe if I can get some training on Floss she will come along as well. Time will tell. The other trials I am planning to get to are the North Dakota trials in June, the Kingston Trial in August, the Western Canadians and the Canadians in Kamloops at the end of August, and ...get this....the Worlds in England in September. What the heck, only live once right? Got word from the CBCA that we are allowed to go - guess there wasn't a lot of people chomping at the bit to go. Kathy Keats and Mary Lou Campbell are the others planning to go. So now it is getting all the ducks in a row 6 months plus in advance. Rabies titres, entry forms, booking places to work dogs, and booking tickets. We have gone to England a few times before, and have brought dogs back over, but this is new ground for me. Always have to have a new chapter to put into my memoirs, and this year will be a big chapter.

Snow Day

Well the writing was on the wall yesterday - today would be a day I couldn't make it into work due to the snow. The roads were blocked, and I would have to wait for a grader to clear things out. The dogs however didn't mind.

Young dogs are a pain really - you wait for them to have the instinct, and then when they have it, you wish they didn't.

Tim, Mitch and Jet thought they would have a little herding demo with the cows this morning. Funny with all the drifts, they were still able to travel 100 miles/hour (at least it seemed like it).

Thankfully, when they see you, they will come to their names.

Tim is going to be 1 in a few weeks - he has grown up to be a big fellow. Have put him onto sheep a few times - now the time for serious training has occurred. I wish I had more time, but I don't - so unsure how much he will learn in the next few months.

His brother is in BC, and will be a search and rescue dog - somehow, I think they should have bought this guy instead.
Not sure what they are searching for, and whether they will rescue it is highly debatable.

Perhaps they were looking for these guys. For their sake, they better blend with the snow.