May 9, 2011: Bad Dogs - Part 2

If Kele and Pixie continue along the same vein as last week, I could well run a blog 'series' on their naughty behaviour. They have continued their 'theme' from last week when they were discovered IN the dog food container. Now that is no easy feat as our dog food is placed in a large round container, the size of a garbage/rubbish bin. It is raised about a foot off the ground to stop dogs from easily tipping it over. How these two got in it is beyond me but when they saw me coming, they jumped out, tipping the container on its side in the process. This caused rather a lot of excitement for the 4 other youngsters who were playing at the time...who immediately dropped all thoughts of play for a food free-for-all. By the time all dogs were safely back in their kennels, a fair amount of feed had been consumed. Of course, Bailey was eager to help me clean up the mess.

This week we dosed the remaining ewes and all the lambs, which had been an overdue task. Our drenching gun has broken so we had to use a syringe to do this, which actually worked better than you might think. It was not ideal, that's for sure, but the job got done. The lambs are looking pretty good and don't seem to mind the decorative red bindi on their foreheads. Kelvin says the lambs remind him of India.

We were off trialling on Saturday. This time the Erwood trial. Love this trial. The field is a small one with an uphill outrun where the dog goes out of sight at the top. The sheep usually prove tricky, and this year was no exception. Those sheep did not want anything to do with the fetch gates or the chute. They were nasty at times.

Kelvin ran Bee and Tina and I ran Jamie and Sioux. Jamie and Bee were the 'star' performers from our crew (although I hesitate to use the word 'star'!). Jamie drew nasty, nasty sheep. One was running hell for leather for the exhaust and another would run in the opposite direction. The fetch was wild, completely off-line and one of those moments where a run from hell unfolds unceremoniously right in front of your eyes...and you seem powerless to effect change! I decided to see if I could get the sheep around my feet and attempt the first leg of the drive...and then retire. Jamie had other thoughts. He took control of the sheep, marched them around the drive in a very tidy fashion and stuffed them through the chute. How we got that far was beyond me but the wee dog worked well in his first outing since September. To finish 5th was miraculous. He certainly showed his class. Now if only I could keep the wee dog fit. He is struggling a bit with arthritis and one never knows to push on, or hold back. Perhaps I've been holding back too much.

Bee ran well for Kelvin but those sheep just refused to look at the chute and time ran out before they would cooperate with man and beast. I can't remember Tina's run, and Sioux's run is best forgotten! Sioux just never got hold of her sheep and we missed absolutely everything! I gave her and the sheep a look at the chute but retired when I saw it just was not going to happen. Saturday night saw Sioux very lame and sore, and on inspection, we found a massive tick on her. Whether or not that has been the reason for her being 'off' so far this season, I don't know, but we removed the tick and hope she will soon get back to her usual self. The dogs are all about to get new tick collars because we do like our excursions into the forest!

This morning I had Keeper and Jamie out moving sheep to different fields. The training sheep on the hill have been sorted and moved around to different fields. Two beulahs have been kicked out of the training group and now have a part of the hill to themselves. They are just not happy about seeing a dog in behind and spend far too much time facing off the dogs or worse, charging them. We hit the eject button on them. A smaller group is in one of the hayfields. They will see an older dog or two each day until they are fitter. I've got a nice group of lightish sheep in the main training field and now that they are fit, the likes of Keeper, Kobe, Penny and Tahi will start seeing them. On the main hill are some very cooperative, very fit cheviots who are about to get all the Ettrick-bound dogs fitter. That is what I am about to make a start on. To the hill we go!