Another Week

We got sleet last night. The best way to describe what I saw on the ground/deck, was a giant slushie. Just wet stuff. A real mess. I was able to throw for the dogs a bit this morning, but cut it short, because I didn't want them to get injured slipping.

When I went to pull out of my driveway, which I had parked at the end, in preparation for the bad weather, my car just would not go forward- too icy. I had to back up and then try again, and was then successful.

I worked the dogs over the weekend. Lucy is basically in stop and stay stopped when I whistle boot camp. It's been a long time coming. If I give her an inch, she takes a yard- literally. To her credit, she gets it, or seems to. She just has such an over-riding need to stay with her sheep- which is not a bad thing... I just wish I had been more clear when I started her. Before we worked, I had to sort some sheep.

There is a group of bred ewes with a ram, in one pen, and next to that is the non-bred group. Well, I sent Lucy in on what I thought was the non bred group. She went in, and uncharacteristically, stopped to sniff noses with one of the sheep. Sort of like "Hi, my name's Lucy, what's yours?" I paid it no attention, because right after that, she took them all out. Then, I realized that this was the bred group, and that was the ram. This ram has hit some dogs pretty hard. But, either he was respectful of Lucy, or he appreciated her "way", and he didn't feel the need to nail her. Good girl Lucy.

Lucy's work was good, but her outruns have tightened up a bit, owing to not working her as much as I should. She will be running in pro novice this year, so we need to get everything tuned up. If she will take her stop whistles, I have no doubt we will be okay.

Danny worked too, but my legs were cramped up from running a lot with Lucy (remember, stop boot camp). So, I could not work him much. He's doing very well though. He is getting better on his come by flanks (not so tight), and he loves my quiet whistle. He is so keen coming onto his sheep- apparently confident- not willy nilly. He will cover nicely if the sheep go to escape- we do a bit of that, just to help improve his balance. He will respond nicely to a gentle correction, which is optimal.

I was so tired last night, and nothing I made for dinner tasted good, so I made chocolate chip cookies ;)

Well, that's it for now. Another week...