LaCamas Th-Friday

This is going to be short and sweet as I have been dealing with Tess. She has gotten better from the Vestibular attack but still has balance issues, eyes are ziggy and unstable. But she is not seizing or crying in pain. She barely ate a piece of steak last night. I got up three times in the night to check on her and feed her some more steak. Today, she is better and I got some Vestibular meds from Dianne Deal. She ate chicken (breast meat), steak, canned dog food and water.....am giving it to her in a soupy base and she is eating in small meals. So that is big. Cynthia Mills )Vet) came in and sat with her and did a once-over and so she is on the road to recovery. I don't know how long it will take but there is an improvement since last night.  Quite a few handlers had dogs that had this and hearing how they dealt with it and how their dogs recovered made it a lot easier for me.

I ran Maid in Open. She flared out nice, got behind the sheep and had a nice lift and then left her ears at the top. She also left her come-bye flank up there and our fetch was offline. A decent turn then a lamb bolted to his bleating buds in the exhaust on the middle half of the drive. I had Maid scoop up the four and take them to the solo and got them back online. However, she was pushy and not feeling or downing. She took the sheep up for an extended drive, and one laid down so I retired. As I ran up the field telling her to stop, she didn't so when I got to her, the eyes got big and she suddenly remembered her stop. Oh, well, maybe tomorrow she will listen better!

Nan had the day off which was good as she tore a pad and is now wearing a boot donated by Angie Untisz. Angie has been a lifesaver for me on this trip!

Open- First Round

Thursday - PN

Friday- PN

Rainey ran on PN in the heat of the day, around 96 degrees. The setout dog circled the sheep and then pushed them to the setout pen. They were about 40 feet away, well away from the setout point. I sent Rainey as the judge told me to and he would sort it out. Great, I thought, as my normally sticky eye princess ran up the field. But, she amazed me by marching head on to the sheep and turning them as they stomped at her. They tried to run over her to get back to the setout but she held firm. They tried to break into two group but she tucked them in and slowly began to inch them down to me. I gave her walkups and a flank and she brought them down to the fetch panels where we missed them by inches. They ended up on the wrong side of the post and I sort of got them back then decided to go on the drive. They tried to break to the exhaust but she was on the muscle and flew in and turn them and they went through the panel. They bolted up the field but she tucked them back on online and then through the second panel. A well bit off on the last leg and she popped them into the pen in seconds flat and I whipped the gate shut. Goodness,  this is not the normal Rainey but she reminded me of Roo in her fastness on the sheep. She would hardly stop and was on the muscle.....did someone switch dogs on me as yesterday, she really struggled. I think she figured out the sheep and was on the muscle today. I am not complaining! (Scott Glen - if you read this you better be sitting down as she was a little Roo today- but listening!) She got fifth out of 44 dogs.

I didn't see much of the Open runs as then I went back to the trailer to take care of Tess. I didn't even pull out my camera.