Working Dogs at Laurel Hill

I am SO LUCKY to have good friends that are generous with their time, their sheep ad their fields. A couple weeks ago we all got together at Laurel Hill Farm to work dogs. Primarily a horse farm, the owner released some domesticated rabbits and well, they did what rabbits do and now they are all over the place is many patterns and colors.

Nancy, Suzy, Karen and Darleen held out and the rest of us ran our dogs. This is a photo of the field and the next I was trying to show some scale from hold out to the handler. Jade is taking the sheep down the fetch. Still don't think it does it justice.

Suzy holding out. Elvis is the one with the horns. He's done a nice job this year as a ram. Little Lisa Marie and her sisters are growing up nicely and with no horns so far.

Flora worked in the big field and while she's been hesitant to leave from my feet and drive, it all seemed to come together nicely for us this day. My timing was a lot better. Maybe I'm not quite as nervous working in front of my friends like I usually am. About time!

Calvin got to work in the big field picking sheep off a hold out person and dog for the first time ever! After he paused to say hello to Jessie and Darleen he did a great job and was a good boy until....

The sheep decided they were done and made a break for it. The horses cheered them on as the made off for their home pasture.

Nick was our hero and found the sheep and held them to the Gator as we rode back to their field.

The girls hanging out at the gator

And Jade supervising everyone

It was a beautiful day and all the dogs had a great time. Can' wait to do it again.

It's All My Fault

As fall rolled around I determined that a new pair of winter boots were in order. Over the last season, I think I wore my poor black Uggs every single day. Weekends I'd wear them working dogs and going to different events. Monday would roll around and I'd polish them real nice and wear them with skirts and dress clothes at work. Oh how I wished I had bought two pairs. My favorite shoes were discontinued.

This year I did some research on line and would have been satisfied with any nice Keen or Merrill or Sorrel waterproof boot but based on my experience last year with the Uggs, I bit the bullet and went with that brand again. (Now I'm not a big Ugg girl - I don't do the slipper looking shoes (or so I thought - I'll have to go into my "Fuggs" (fake Uggs) later))

No sooner do I receive my beautiful brown box from Zappos, we experience one of the worst winters on record. I can't help but think this is karma:

Me: "Oooh, look how pretty these boots are. I really shouldn't spend this kind of money but I loooove my Uggs"

God: "Girly, you really shouldn't spend that kind of money. How 'bout a nice pair of LL Bean boots. That's much more along the lines of what your budget allow for."

Me: "Oh but if I wear them like the ones I got last year, they will be worth it"

God: "I wouldn't if I were you"

Me: "Look at how pretty they are. And the shearling, it's soooo warm"

God: "You really think your feet need to be that warm?"

Me: "Oh but I do! You never know. "

God: "Bam! Take that! Here's 15" of snow. Take your fancy boots out in that why don't you?"

Me: "Wow, my feet were really cozy out there. Wouldn't you know it? See what a great investment."

God: "Bam! Here's another 20" of snow. How you like them apples. You wanted to go over board on the shoes - now you're going to pay."

Me: "Darn, if I had just kept what I had, we would have had the driest winter on record."

God: "Ha!"

Blue Skies

So we started out with a really wet fall, got record amounts of snow and this week it's supposed to rain for four days straight! I can't take it anymore! No more snow or rain or anymore Winter Olympics for that matter. Let's just move on to spring. For my sheepdog friends - here's a reminder of warmer days, short sleeves and green grass. Can't wait to get back to working dogs!

Turn your speakers up - I dare you to have any winter blahs after watching this!

.

The Reason for Starting This

So this was the motivation for beginning the blog.

Bob has joined our furry family and I wanted a way to document his development and training as a stock dog. I also though this would be a fun way to keep friends and family up to date with what's going on in my life.

Bob is already growing up and has been on sheep a couple times now. More to come soon on that.