Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Speed, holes, and fire

I see it's been a few days since I updated last... It's a trend caused by being so busy, and just wiped when I finally do get to stop.

I worked the dogs again, and there were some memorable moments, that I would like to share.

First, Lucy. I was working her on shedding, and I had only three sheep- that's hard, but I figured what the heck. She was forced to re-set her position several times, as she was too tight, and the sheep were being butt-heads. But, to her credit, she never thought of NOT doing what I asked. So, I finally get the sheep set, and when I have Lucy down, she takes a couple steps in- that is the KISS of death for shedding.

So, I had a glove in my hand and I went to whack it against my other hand, but missed (I wanted to underscore to Lucy that lie down means lie down- right then). The glove flew to the ground and one of the ewes decided it looked like lunch, and she ran over to it, making a nice hole, through which to call Lucy through. TOO FUNNY. I thought, hey, that's ONE way to make a hole :)

So, later one, I had Lucy shed two off, and put them near a fence. I want her to learn to just cover and hold, and not be so compelled to mix it up- if you know what I mean... So, she had them there, and then, I guess she had to pee, so as she is giving the hairy eye ball to the sheep, she pees. When she pees her tail came up, and when she finished, she had her tail up, and one leg up, looking like a pointer. I was thinking "hey, do we get extra points for style on this?" Gotta love a dog who just works through the bodily functions ;)

The other thing, and this I am not sure I can adequately convey... At one point, Lucy had to cover, I forget why, but she had to turn on the speed. She went out and she ran. She didn't just run, she covered ground as fast as any single dog I have ever seen. She looked just like a racing Greyhound. She completely extended her entire body, and looked to spend very little time on the ground. My mouth actually fell open. At that point, I thought to myself, I defy any dog to beat this speed. I have seriously never seen a dog run/float/motor that fast. Afterward she wasn't even freakin' winded.

I worked Danny too. We are getting there. He is so keen, and just wants to keep going back to work, and well, I love his little mischief he also gets, when I have the sheep on the fence and want him off, and he does a little stomp at the sheep, just to rile them. Yes, it's bad, but I LOVE a little fire in a dog.

So, that's it for now.

1 comment:

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