Perhaps "Phil" is a liar..

Last week spring was in the air...70 degree temps..grass coming up in abundance...

This week...well..not so much

Good morning!

Some of us were more amused than others

Snow...let's be puppies!

Wilbur pig decided to hunker down

I felt guilty doing this..

So I thought I'd try this

Hiking up a steep hill on 4 paws is much easier than 2 muck boots!We need a sled!

The dogs thoroughly enjoyed their hike

C'mon Mom don't sit down let's go! (Berri)

Alright alright

Soot way in the back debating on whether to stay on the hike or not (she hates hiking)

I suppose Soot would rather be back here

Luxurious kennels for daytime loafing!

Josie would rather be here..

5 month old Josie..enjoying play time in the winter wonderland

I admit it is very beautiful BUT..

At the end of the day I much preferred to be here

Ahhh.

EWE Lamb??

It's lambing season at Canines N Ewe. This is our first year lambing without "outside" help. Our help didn't seem to help, so we got rid of the help!

Lambing usually starts on the same weekend as our big dog trial..this year was no exception.

Why do we lamb in January you ask?? January is usually a lot warmer than spring time. March and April bring fierce freezing temps and a lot of wind, for every thing there is an exception to the rule.

You know it's this warm in January

This year (Of course) is the coldest winter we have had in 15 years..and of course our biggest flock to lamb  (Ever).  We were proactive this year and built new jug pens.

These have come in handy ..as soon as they are born we jerk them out of the pasture and put them and mom in a nice cozy pen. Here they remain for 2-3 days for docking and castration.

Although the jugs are handy they cannot make up for the fact that there are still lambs out and about. We worry about these characters all night. Then of course we wake up to this...

After that comes this..

of course during this lambing time (or farm fiasco as it's finest)  we are getting our bathroom remodeled...so not only are we round the clock lambing we are living in

for those of you that are unfamiliar ..yes we are living in our motorhome..that's her "barn name" !!

So a few things we have learned over the course of this "Lambing time"..(It's not our first rodeo)
1. It's colder that shit in January (Due to Global warming being canceled)

2. Lambs readily drown in water tanks (no matter how tall or how small)

3. Remodeling your bathroom in the dead of winter (probably not a great idea)

4. Crouching over getting a cold weak lamb to nurse is enough to make yoga look like a cake walk.

5. Cull (the process of me never wanting to see your face ever again in a lambing jug.)

6. One hard season of lambing makes you want to kill all your rams and buy your sheep at the auction barn.

7. Oh yeah and what I wouldn't give for this right now....I will never complain about summer again..

Happy New Year folks..we are starting with a bang..! or is it a BUST?

Merry Christmas!!

Ron and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas..from our house to yours!

Balance..What's in it for Ewe..

Balance in life is a must..Balance on sheep is a must..so how do we create it.

First off I think the number 1 mistake in thinking we have balance is dog broke sheep. The falsify the whole concept from start to finish.

If dog broke sheep are always wandering around with their nose in our pocket we cannot achieve this.. we achieve a nice ability to follow. (not gonna cut it if you work wool sheep)

Balance is the ability to bring sheep straight...BUT where is the dog?? The dog is where it needs to be to achieve this goal. At the last trial the lambs leaned hard on the dogs..the dogs that followed and never reached for balance were offline. The dogs that through themselves into the point of balance on the pressure succeeded at the fetch.

In starting many young dogs these days (and days past) I have dogs that balance better on the left or the right..you see them reach over to correct the sheep and stay there until the heads turn, then they go back to the point of balance on the other side...Some reach good one way and some come up short the other way..leaving the sheep "not quite covered". I will make sure that this is fixed before going on with training.

I will take large groups of wool sheep out and just wander around and make sure the pups are reaching. When I think they are even on both sides of balance, I change the sheep! I go from not so dogged yearling wool sheep (20) or so to 7 undogged wool sheep...(they don't come to me, the pups have to balance well to bring them!)

Today was that day..(now obviously I wouldn't take an out of control pup to the pasture on this type of sheep) These pups I speak of are yearlings that have had farm flock experience. They are getting "command" ready, so I though I would check their "Balance". I so often see people just rushing through the training process, getting command on, whipping grip out, instead of working grip out, and stopping the dog constantly never letting them get a feel for the sheep. I am just the opposite. I like a natural dog (almost to a fault) I admire good work, and I am not controlling (enough maybe for some) I like free moving..but anyway..that's me.

So what happened on the 7 wild woolies?? Both pups littermates did a great job (keeping the sheep on the field) both pups developed better flanks (they had to open otherwise the sheep felt they were being chased) One reaches great comebye and 1 reaches great away. What I mean by reach is if I am backing around a corner did they turn nicely and hit that balance or did they drop a shoulder and flush the sheep passed me...both had a shoulder drop on opposite sides!. I wandered and worked it for 15 minutes, not saying much just cruising around the field! So the lesson did 2 things...help them understand balance and help them open their flanks naturally.

It is ideal if you can keep a few unbroke sheep because it is always nice to get a young dog on real sheep that have to be told where to go and see if they have what it takes!! (These sheep do not fight, I wouldn't use fighting sheep) but nice light fresh (non-cheater ) sheep!! Afterall when the dogs get into the big leagues we cannot tell them where to be at 600-700 yards when the sheep are hassling them.

In conclusion don't forget the remedial importance of the beginning stages of the young pups career! Lay off the command sometimes and just wander it's quite enjoyable!

Happy Herding..

Do ewe believe in ghosts?

Ron and I got a laugh out of this picture we took at the trial field one night when we were sitting around the campfire!

Very few were camped; we had ample space to ourselves!




Nice area to walk dogs however it was covered in goat heads.. The smart dogs stayed on the road and in the alfalfa.. The "others" acted as if though they had just stepped in a mine field! Daddy to the rescue!

The field was stunning




A 420 yard outrun nice and straight forward.. Only to meet up with the fine wool lambs that took a look at the pesky k9 and said "who me?" You want to go? Naaa I think we will have a staring contest!

The lambs were tricky, fun, and even! Haven't been to a trial that was this fun in a long time!




Ron ran his first open! Made a great job of it on sheep he had never worked before! His comment was "I like open!"

The young dogs had their go at the sheep Sunday! Suede ran a good run for 2nd I was beaming as we have worked on anger management, and he never once lost his temper! The sheep really liked him!

Poncho's lack of experience showed but at 2 that's fine! He had a nice bite at the drive gate, but it frazzled him and he took a few wrong flanks on the cross drive so I went out and helped him.. Retired.

We are on the last 99 miles of a 1500 mile round trip! Every mile was worth it! We had a great time and we are still enjoying




Plan B!

A must do for ewe!

This trial is a must do, maybe because the people are so nice, the sheep are so tricky, the weather was perfect, and the field stunning!!!!
If the opportunity arises, we will be back! Thank you Utah stockdog club for such a great trial!
Onto young dogs tomorrow! Yahoo!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Spanish fork Utah

Ewers day 1 wrap

A chilly 28 started us off warming up to a perfect 65!! Sheep were squirrels this morning but settled well into it! We are running yearling range ewes that are not dogged!
Sly ran early had a good feel for the sheep but a little slow. Timed out in shed ring. I was happy with her go!
Soot ran mid morning with a nice run and finish but owner blindness I missed the cross drive panel high!
Ron and Jesse had a great start however Jesse lost patience with staring and eating sheep.. Grip.. Called off!
Results:
Libby neider Darby
Jennifer Ewers soot
Shauna Gourley mercy
Candy Kennedy Kobe
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone