We got snow...

 

....two feet, in fact.....

 

 

Just kidding, we had rain. Like for the next eight months!

 

 

Caption Contest...ends Friday

The Caption Contest ends on Friday. You still have time to enter. Winner will get a prize sent by me. Go to the link below and enter!

CONTEST

Happy (belated) Birthday, DeltaBluez Rainey

Five years ago, on November 10, 2007, a special little angel entered our lives. Her name is Rainey.

 

It's hard to believe that five years have flown by. It seems like the other day that Tess had pups and Jeff got one of them as his Christmas present. But the days and flown by, the pups are all grown up now and Rainey just turned five years old. She was the runt of the litter, half the size of her brothers but she was feisty. She would push her brothers aside to get the best seat at the milk bar and had the loudest shriek. We always keep a female from each litter so this selection was easy. Somehow she knew she was the chosen one and grew up to be the DIVA.

 

Rainey, as per tradition, was named after a female musician. She was named after Ma Rainey. She has various other nicknames such as Petunia, Bug, Bunny, Rain-bug, Princess, Baby, Diva and Baby-Girl. She is quite spoiled and her mother Tess still dotes on her. She will come into the house, soaking wet and Tess will lick her dry. At night, she sleep in my arms or next to me on the bed. But she gives me everything I ask of her. She is my right hand on the farm and my Open Dog.

 

I appreciate www.dogbarkcollar.com for making this post possible.

 

As a puppy, Tess and Rain would snuggle together.

 

She started her sheep work early. Here she is practicing a take down. 

She needed an education on working sheep so read various sheep books, then went to Scott Glen for her foundation training.

She was the Christmas gift to Getty. She is his dog and will be here forever. She won't work for him as she is a one person dog but is his lapwarmer and watches football in his lap.

 

She is my lapwarmer at trials. She has taken over the role from her mother, Tess.

 

 

She was slow to mature and finally began to run well at 3 years old. Janet Thorpe ran her in Novice and Ranch until one day, Rainey decided she only wanted to run for me. She ran quite well for Janet too! We have no idea what happened but you couuld see at the trial, she decided to switch handlers. She will work for Janet if I am not home but if I am home, she ignores everyone else.

 

She is not the pushiest dog but is super obedient. She has a bit of eye so I have to manage her. She won't back down if a ewe charges her and is kind to her sheep.  Her drive is the hardest part for her but she has gotten much better. She did great in PN, winning or placing high. After her third trial in PN, people began to ask when she was going to move to Open. When I first started to run her, I had no expectations and just wanted us to have fun. Many hours of practice, she got better and she began to shine. She runs different than Maid or Nan and is very senstive. She won Reserve PN dog of the year in the WASH Stockdog Club last year. I just moved her up to Open this fall.

 

She has a nice way with her sheep and they like her. On heavy sheep, she will struggle. Oddly enough she does well on range or hair sheep. She got third at Palm Cottage in PN.

At LaCamas in PN, she did well too and place fifth.

She  does great turns at the post. On tough sheep, I have to keep  her moving due to her eye and she won't quit. She loves to trial!  In her mind, she thinks she is a winner.

She just moved up to Open. Some trials have been a struggle for her. At Fire Ridge, she didn't give up.The sheep tried numerous time to break away and she patiently kept bringing them back. She timed out on the last leg but her heart was huge.She wanted to cross but took my redirect on the fly and went blindly to where I told her. She trusts me and I trust her. She won't be the top Open dog, not for the lack of try but not having that extra push. But she does everything I ask of her and is a shedding machine and pens greats. Her outwork is awesome but her drive is hard. This Sunday was the longest drive in Open, that we have had at a local trial, and she did it. One ewe wanted to break away but she held her to the group. We timed out as she came in for the shed and it was the best shed. The sheep are some of the toughest to shed and she had the shed in seconds. I had no hole, but called her in, she made the shed and held the stomping ewes off. I will pick and chose the trials for her but she is fun to run.

 

Rain is like her mother is some ways. Loving and willing to do what you want of her. She is a small version in look of her father, Delmar Scot and has his working style but not his push. At the farm, she moves anything I ask of her, will grip as needed and goes where I send her, with no sheep in sight, but trusting me that they are out there. She puts the poultry away for me and does most of the farm chores. She loves to swim and is a water dog. Rain loves to watch football, upside in Getty's lap and is quite spoiled. She adores my mom and Aunt Kimiko and is their shadow. No matter how well or not, she does at trial, she is here to stay. She is our little Princess and the love of our life. Tess made sure she has left a pup of hers that we can spoil and love as much as we love her.She loves to cuddle and if often next to me on the couch.

Happy Birthday, Bunny!

 

 

Sat/Sun trial Results

On Saturday I went to the trial hosted by Lynne Green, called Kirchgessner. We didn't fare so well so went home and licked our wounds. The Open outrun was tough, over a hill that a lot of the dogs crossed. at least my dogs didn't do that. They just refused to listen to my commands for the dog-leg fetch.  The first leg was do-able and the cross drive was long and at the panels, the sheep would dart down to the woods or go low. Mine went low. Over a hill which you couldn't see the sheep to the shedding ring for a shed then pen.  Nan ran out nicely, had a spectacular straight fetch, a start of a nice drive, missed panels and off for a bit. She was way too pushy and I would get her to slow down but she would leap with great enthusiasm, which caused the four lambs to bolt. We did get the shed and at the pen as they were going in, they darted past the mouth but she got them back and tucked them in. The lack of dog leg fetch and sport drive cost us. Maid ran out well, had a nice lift and fetch like Nan, and a better drive. At the last leg, one lamb was slow to cross the ditch so she assisted it with her teeth for a DQ. I made a point of going slow and quiet and she did not have any tension but really wanted that lamb to show it had fine jumping skills. It did by the way. I scolded her and she got the point. Rainey ran out the best of the dogs, went deep and she sheep broke to the wood. She was slow to cover and went into the woods to get them. I gave her a few flanks and waited. She came out of the woods with her sheep and got them back at line at the last third. They were leaning on her. She turned them smartly around the  post and had her eye on them for the quick turn, when she didn't see the ditch and fell head over heels in the ditch. She had a huge somersault, flipped her head and I was stunned. I was ready to leave to help her but she didn't break a stride and did the turn. But it might have taken the wind out of her, I don't know as she drive she was very cautious. Her eye got her stuck and we DQ on lack of progress. The lambs challenged her and she was very cautious about leaning on them.  I wasn't very happy with my dogs so did some deep thinking about them overnight. I don't have the scores but we sucked.

 

It was her birthday so we stopped at Del's on the way home and she got a huge toy, smoked bone and treats. She got tons of extra goodies with dinner and spoiled more than normal. (I know, hard to believe). I gave her a massage on her neck and you could tell it was very sore.

 

Sunday, I went to Judy's trial, Rocky Ewe. I had forgotten that I had entered Sava so we brought her as well. . I had Rainey, Maid and Nan in Open and Sava in PN.

 

Judy had her light hair sheep and for Open we had four. A standard run with the pen and shed at the end.  Nan was the first and she ran out well, had a nice lift and fast fetch but I got her to slow down at the last part. She had a nice drive but at the last part of the crossdrive, she wouldn't release the pressure so I made her and the sheep drifted low. I made her listen and give me the big come-bye and we missed the panel but I got her to give to me. She tucked them into the pen and I called her into the shed but she didn't come in. I did it a second time and she didn't come in so we timed out. These sheep are very hard to shed and doing it twice was like having two days of sun in Seattle...pretty darn hard. She is usually a great shedder so I don't know why she didn't come in.

 

Maid was the second dog to go and her outrun was nice, the lift was off and she pushed the sheep way to the right and headed them. I left the post and made this a training run. This is the Winter training series and so we trained on her listening skills. Nice rest of the ftech, tidy turn and start of a nice drive then at the first panels, she thought she knew what the line was. So we had a "stop until I tell you to move" talk and it continue the rest of the drive. She wanted to make her own line so I made her listen to me, stop, flank and slow down. Then we put the sheep away. I paid for a non-compete training run so she did another Open run. I stopped her twice on the outrun, reflanked her and she was brillant. Then her training wheels fell off as she pushed the sheep offline and to the bushes and tried to head then again. I whistled her down and began to walk to her and she decided that listening to me would be a wise idea. She did a far better drive and every time she thought she had her own line, she got a correction then put the sheep on my line. It was a far better run and much smoother. She shed like a pro within seconds of entering the ring. There were four sheds in the Open runs (not counting hers or Rainey which timed out). The judge was impressed on how much better her second run was and how we were teaming much better. For the rest of the winter training trials, I am going to leave the post to make a point with her if needed. She gets into a "zone" and tunes me out but this last training runs, I was part of her equation. One time, a ewe turned on her and she normally would grip it take it for a ride, but she heeded my down, stopped and the ewe went to her buddies and we finished the drive. That was a big step in our teaming. This is where she loses her temper if a ewe challenges her. Even though we didn't place, I was far happier with her work. She is not an easy dog to run but we are fitting the puzzle piece together. She wants hard to please me and after this run, she was happy and quite proud of herself.

Rainey went out deep, and cast out nice behind her sheep. She was slow to lift but took them nicely down the field at a slow trot. She just skimmed the panels and I tried to push them back but she would unwind. But she had pretty much had them mostly online. Nice turn and for most of the first leg she was doing fine. The first leg was extra long and at the last part she struggled. I flanked her back and forth and she scraped them by on the inside. A little off on the crossdrive and then a little low on the second panels. It was a very long drive and missing the two panels cost us dearly. She tucked them into the pen and marched them into the shed ring, backing one ewe all the way into the ring. The ewe kept stomping at her and trying to charge but she held her ground. I called her in for the shed, the buzzer went off and she had a sweet shed, one of the best of the day but it didn't count. (we needed two more seconds) The ewes kept trying to break over her but she stood firm. I was a lot happpier with her run today than the day before. I will have to pick and choose her trials for her. She really enjoys the trials and is very obedient, which works in her favor. If she would have gotten the shed, she would have tied for 5th/6th. I was a lot happier with how the dogs ran today! I handled a lot better,  stopped them quicker and kept them slowed down more.

On PN, they moved everything in but it still was difficult. The crossdrive was long and the turn created a draw at the last leg. A lot of dogs had a wide last leg. You had five minutes. I had worked Sava about two weeks ago and I had no idea what to expect. Plus, she is in heat. She listened quite well and was on the muscle. If she would run like this all the time, I would pop her in Open. Her outrun was nice and deep and she looked at the untarped setout. A quick whistle got her going to the sheep and a pushy lift. Nice down the fetch with a little offline but not much. Nice turn and very dead on first leg. Just before the turn, she looked at me as it was at her comfort zone, so I gave her a walkup and she pushed them through. Nice crossdrive but at last moment the sheep tried to pull to the exhaust but she stopped them nicely and we missed the panel. The turn was wide and she put them back online halfway on the last leg. She popped the sheep in the pen like it was easy-peasy! I was so happy she won the class and did it with some push and no blonde moments.  

We left right after the PN class so didn't see the Ranch runs but the results are below.

Rocky Ewe Winter Series #1 - Sunday