April 1, 2009: April Fool's Day
This morning we got a phone call from Mike. "Jamie was out," he said, "and so is Floss." Gulp! Jamie likes girls - a lot! The more girlfriends the better. We sprinted for the door pulling on socks and shoes, not necessarily in that order. As we looked out the door, Jamie was safely in his kennel...and all we could hear was Mike and Nora giggling in the distance. Neither of us realized it is April 1st today. We won't repeat the names we called Mike but his stud fee for Jamie just tripled.

It has been a devilishly busy week. Angie went off to Gatwick with Kevin Evans to collect semen of Mirk, Spot and Jamie for the A.I. business. That trip was fun but anyone travelling with Kevin be warned, his foot never comes off the accelerator...and if by chance a sheek, orange Lamborghini glides silkily past, Kevin's foot is in danger of pushing the accelerator through the floor. Trust us, a Mitsuibishi L-200 is no match for a Lamborghini. Kevin tried to convince Angie that a Lamborghini would be no good to take dogs to a trial. Yeah, right? Who wouldn't park on the road and walk to the trial field if you had one of them? And anyway, our dogs would fight for the passenger seat in a Lamborghini.

After the Gatwick adventure, Angie raced off to Scotland for a few days on the hills there. The weather up there ranged from horizontal snow to brilliant sunshine. Whatever the weather, it is always a good day to train dogs. On Sunday Angie and Bobby (Dalziel) went gathering with Joe, Spot, Kate, Meg and Jamie. A neighbouring farmer had his shepherd up and leave with no notice and all the ewes with twins were still out on the hill. Now who would turn down a gathering opportunity on the braes (hills) with Bobby? Not Angie! Dressed in our new Swedish-made winter suits - Angie inherited one of these when Bobby bought Shiela the wrong size - and two hats and two pairs of gloves each, we went off on the bikes with dogs on the back. As we started the bikes, Angie realized Meg had not been on a quad bike before so Meg had to be leashed to stay on. She soon got used to it. It is funny how the dogs are so keen to run alongside the bike on the way out, but boy are they keen to get on the bike on the way home. Meg must have covered a good 10 miles in the morning as she jumped off the bike at the earliest opportunity and would not get on until we hit the road home.

Now gathering with Bobby is a real treat. One quickly appreciates the reasons why he is so precise in his training of dogs, and the demands he puts on his dogs to do things correctly. You need all of this training for dogs working the open hills of Scotland. Bend outs, pull ins, steady pacing, and dogs taking every command without refusing are essentials in this environment. Of course a good stop and a recall are mandatory. There were times when it was difficult for the dog to see the sheep because of the snow lying on the ground but Bobby showed his mastery of navigating his dogs out to sheep. Most impressive was Joe. We have seen Joe a lot in trials and in training and working on the lower parts of the brae so it was a new experience to see him out in the open hills. What a superb dog he is. He has such a cool head on him! At one point, Spot missed some sheep as he was tricked by the snow. Joe was sent out to bring in this difficult to reach group of sheep, one of whom was lame, and he had no problems whatsoever. The trust between Joe and Bobby was a sight to behold. One thing is for sure, this experience makes you take pause to reflect on your own training techniques and the level of command needed on a dog for an open hill environment. It also makes you appreciate the beauty of a well trained dog! Joe certainly showed his class. He's a smart dog too. He is the only dog that sat on the quad bike until it was his turn. The rest ran alongside the bikes and slept well that night as a result.

It is always hard to leave the Scottish braes!

On the way back from Scotland, Ace was delivered to the airport for her flight to the US. It was hard saying goodbye to her! She was mated to Joe before she left so perhaps there might be a Joe x Ace pup in the offing for me in the future.

Yesterday Angie went over to Kevin's place again to see some of his dogs working. Watch out folks, he's got a VERY good dog in the wings that should be one to look out for in the next nursery season. Roy is the dog's name and he is off Kevin's Jaff. Sharp, classy, and plenty in him. Very impressed with him. Nigel Watkins has a litter sister to this dog, called Jody, and she is showing huge potential too. Both are very exciting nursery prospects for the coming year. Perhaps it will be a Roy versus Jody nursery showdown next winter...you read it here first!

A quieter week ahead of us, we hope.

Happy training and trialling.

Oh, how could we forget...Kelvin is catching moles at a rate of 3 per day now. Modest success!