Catching up ...

Sheesh! Time gets away from me!

Well, after much bitching and complaining (and I mean "MUCH"), I finally cleaned up the mess the Bosnians left me. It wasn't really "in" the bags. It was sort of flopped on top of the bags and then sort of covered up. There were feet and blood everywhere. The entrails were all bloated, and there was a flyfest on them by the time I got out there. I had to re-bag all of that incredibly nasty smelling crap. I am suprised i didn't hork. Katy, of course, was here to help me. Katy, you're incredible. Thank you! My trash didn't get picked up for a couple of days, so that lovely smell got to stick around while we waited to see if the trash guys would take it. They did. I owe them.

Tuesday night was different. The sheep were, understandably wigged out because they could smell the blood. So were the dogs. I probably was too. I threw my back out trying to get the sheep back into the round pen, where they really did NOT want to go and I don't blame them. (It was better the next morning, though, thank doG.) Colleen didn't make it out, however, Ellie and her husband Joe, and Ellie's dog Cedar came out and practiced. She is doing a very nice job with Cedar. Valerie and Bolt came also. They are looking quite nice. Jaenne came with Kip and Mo, but not before running to D&B and getting me some dog food when I came to the horrible realization that I was completely out. Thank you, Jaenne! They did a very nice job of putting the sheep away. This Tuesday, I hope to be able to give them the job of sorting the sheep. They are more than ready. Ann also came Tuesday night and worked Rio. They will be a great team!

Wednesday night, Katy, Colleen, Ellie and I took the dogs out to Dianne's for a lesson. I took Echo. Working her is like a kaleidoscope, it's constantly changing. I could not get her to come to the top of her outrun on the come bye side. The away was better, but not perfect. But she is definitely stopping short on the come bye side. Dianne tells me it's because she's manipulated me into coming to balance to her instead of making her come to balance to me. And then much to my horror, pointed it out the minute I did it. I have to plant my feet and make her do it. Then I asked Dianne to work her to see if she was getting the same result. She basically did, although it was easier for her to encourage Echo to go all the way around. She then backed up to the wall, and Echo wasn't all that crazy about going in, causing a mess and covering it. Her eye is starting to lock in and she was preferring to lie down and hold the sheep to Dianne, despite Dianne's encouragement. So she showed me what she wanted me to practice with Echo until our next lesson. I have homework. Woo hoo!

After our lesson, we all went out to eat. We wanted to go to Red Robin, but it was closed. So we ended up at Shari's or something. The food was ok, but we were all too busy laughing to notice. We made a ton of noise in there and I'm sure the staff was all ready to kick us out. Oh ... something I forgot to mention. (Ok, this blog is going to get really long.)

When we were leaving Dianne's house after our lesson, we all pile in the truck except for Colleen, who comes to tell me that my tailgate fell off. What? So I go out there, and sure enough, one side of the tailgate fell off. It's dark where we are parked and I can hardly see what I'm doing, so Ellie is holding my phone up so the other three of us can see what's happening. Someone said, "I wonder if Dianne has a flashlight we could borrow." So as I am holding the tailgate, I look around to where Dianne is standing (under some very nice bright lights) and I say, "Hey Dianne, you got a flashlight we can borrow?" So blonde Dianne says, "Why don't you just back your truck up over here under the lights?" Talk about feeling like an idiot! So we do. Then the 4 of us are still trying to figure out how the tailgate goes on and why it's not staying on when we try to close it. So we consult the blonde again who says, "Hmmm ... maybe this is blocking it" and reaches in and moves one of our chairs out of the way and ... shuts the tailgate. LMAO! Wow. Did I feel like a heel!?!?!

So I am sure that experience set us up for the giggles at the restaurant. So fun!

I got home that night, let the dogs out for a few minutes (it's now 11:30 p.m.), I let them back in ... and Rob is missing! Ugh! He jumped the fence. I hop in my truck and drive down the street. I can see which way he went initially because of the very wet pee spots, but I was ultimately not able to find him despite my best effort. About an hour and a half later, I come home, make up a flyer, email a few rescue contacts and go to bed. I slept like crap thinking about poor, scared Rob. I found him in my dog room the next day ... apparently he had come home at some point and my roommate let him into the dog room. Thank doG! Whew! It was breaking my heart to think of him out there by himself.

Ellie told me that she would like to babysit him for "the day," so I went and dropped him and his crate off at her house. Then she told me later that she was going to hang on to him until her lesson with Dianne on Saturday morning and see what Dianne thinks of her taking him. He's such a good boy. I kind of miss his face peeking at me from the side of the couch.

So, Saturday night, Katy comes over with Scout and some Coronas and we work dogs in Russ' pasture. (For some reason, my pasture was already flooding.) I worked Skar. She is still way eyed up, but I love her. She's got so many good qualities, but if there was one thing I could change, it would be how much eye she has on stock. Makes her pretty sticky. I need to work her more, continue keeping her on her feet, and I just now thought of something. I should try the wall trick with her and maybe that will help free her up.

Then I worked Echo. She was stopping short on the come bye side a little bit but it was much easier to get her to come completely around. I wonder if it has something to do with the arena v. the open space. I did the wall trick on my fence, and she had no problem coming in, making a mess, and covering her stock and staying on her feet, which I think is exactly what Dianne was trying to show me the other night. I hope at our next lesson that we are outside so Dianne can see the difference. Yes, I need to be able to have Echo work in small spaces, but I think the walls and the echo in the arena makes her uncomfortable.

Anyway, I heard from Ellie. She worked Rob at Dianne's on Saturday and said he did very well. Dianne recommended that she hang on to Rob until she gets back from the finals and they can work him out in the desert and see how he does for her. Ellie posted the video of her and Rob! Check it out!



Off to Art in the Park with Ann and Katy! Woo hoo!

Happy tails,
JD