Thursday, July 15, 2010

Swimming, er, working dogs

I took a drive out to work sheep. Ostensibly, I guess would be the correct term. It was MUGGY. It wasn't cool either, which meant I was dripping with perspiration after just a short time. I have a moral objection to perspiring that badly, when I haven't done *that* much ;)

So, I didn't do much with the dogs. Lucy did very well, though I am seeing that the first thing that goes with her is her driving brain in the heat. I ended up walking with her, and telling her she was good, and then did some cross driving and quit. The sheep are also very heavy and she is not the strongest driver.

Where she excelled, was when we were at the gate to sort, and they were all jammed up at the gate against the fence. Lucy got up between the sheep that were on the fence, I mean smushing into their bellies, and just jamming herself through. Not a care in the world. That's pretty darn great Lucy.

I then worked Danny. We did two outruns, and then I did a bit of driving, and then some pulling off fences and corners. He has absolutely no problem doing that. I don't know if he will be a weak dog, but at this point when he walks up to sheep, he doesn't have any hesitation. He does lack eye, and I hope he grows a bit as he matures. Goodness knows we pushed him off sheep a LOT as a pup... I will work on walk ups a lot with him and also maybe have him do some sorting. I should also have him work my sheep a bit....

The most time was spent by the dogs swimming in the pond and racing around it. Lucy just had a great time zipping around and Danny chased her, it was so nice. I just sat there enjoying the view :)

When I got to the farm today, my sheep high tailed it up to the middle of the field and lined up to face whatever dog may come. They are getting bothered a lot by deer flies, but no more swat for now. It's not THAT hot today, so they should stop complaining ;)

Saturday the guy may come back to work. We will see. I plan to lay low this weekend. JEEZ am I sick of all this heat and humidity. It rots.

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