Hustle and Bustle

Ron and I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Its a tough time of year for us because we have the dog trial to put on. This year is particularly hard because the trial starts directly after Christmas.

Side trip to Calico!

It's been a hard year overall, lots of things happening on the ranch, and then an OVER-ABUNDANCE of entries for the dog trial. We have made some new friends and lost some old ones. We have shed tears of joy and tears of sorrow.

I am married to a man whom I don't deserve...who sticks with me through thick and thin. I have tested his patience this year too. I understand how lucky I am, although I don't often enough express that.

We lost our great Ram Willie...and it went downhill from there. We lost lambs in the freezing mud, and we lost a beloved young dog Pearl in a tragic accident on the ranch.

RIP- "Pearl"

It's been hard for me to wrap my head around Christmas, and the dog trial. Our hearts are broken from the loss of pearl, just 4 short weeks ago.

We had a beautiful litter of puppies that have turned out to be my savior. They helped me keep my head when I was losing it over the past month.

The babies!!

Puppies are Sweep x Soot and have gone to their new homes (Well with the exception of our 3!!) Brite, Plaid, and Fan!!! These puppies saved me!

Here's hoping that 2012 brings us more positive than negative.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL- The Ewers

R. I. P. "Willie"

Will is the Dorper Ram (Black head)

Tonight we had to "put down" our dorper ram.  He has been with us 5 years and had personality galore..plus...he was the leader of the pack. Louie the cheviot is the eldest of "the boys" however he let Willie call the shots. Whatever will wanted he got, wherever willie went they all went!!(Not limited to sneaking the neighboring fence for the green grass).

Tuesday Willie went off his food, we noticed he was not urinating.  This happened to the eldest "Louie" about 3 years ago, so "we had the supplies". Confidently he was drenched each night with ammonium Chloride and given antibiotics. Up until last night he was back and forth on his food and still willing to "fight the drench". We decided last nigh to bring him to the barn; we didn't want him sick and in the cold wet weather.  He ate some last night, however this morning he was DOWN...not only down but wouldn't budge. We watched him all day, and when we went to feed his head was flat on the floor and he was shaking in discomfort. Ron and I both knew he had hit the  suffering in pain point. One more injection... and no change after 4 hours. Breathing was labored, eyes had the look of pain..

We had to make the choice; he wasn't going to die on his own heart was far too strong,  if he was going to die he wasn't giving up easily. He would have suffered through the night and the end result was going to be the same. With heavy hearts and tearful eyes..the gun shots rang...Thank god Ron knows what he is doing and Willie would suffer no longer.

Just remember when things always look of rainbows and roses, you visit, pet, work...the behind the scenes operation is not always fun and rarely rewards the hardest of hearts or the softest of hearts. Again we press on and will seek out a new boy, however it will be hard to find one that can fill these hooves.

RIP Willie...Dodge and Louie will be lost without you.

Time winds down..

Happy

Day!!!! 

Traditional Turkey Day at the Ewers...brings friends and family from afar!! We will have a feast, however "Leo" (as shown above) will be spared! We will have 20 or so people for the feast Ron will put the turkey's in the ground pit which will be just DELISH!!! So from our house to yours..I hope you have a wonderful, thankful, day!

Ours for a month...

View of our trial field

As most people know Ron and I have a full time ranch hand at Canines N Ewe. Why? (sometimes I even wonder) ...but we have him because...WE WORK! We have a full time kennel, 100 head of sheep, and plenty of "other creatures" big and small! Is the job difficult? Well no if you have 8 free hours of the day. Daily duties consist of checking sheep in the morning, grazing sheep in the afternoon, and letting young dogs out to relieve themselves once daily...Leon does a mediocre job of taking care of the sheep, does a great job at handling and caring for dogs...(that's the reason he has a job...still). Every year we give Leon the month of November off so he can go home to New Mexico and visit family..

Babe our dinner

Llucy our "flock guard"

So....This is it!! Ron and I are in charge!! Yeah for a whole month, I don't have someone besides Ron in our house YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!! Menu for dinner will be fish sticks and fries !!!  So yes it's a big busy month, besides having the ranch to ourselves, which brings a tremendous work load, we are lambing, we have a clinic, students on Wed. and Sat., we are having 20 for Thanksgiving Dinner, and don't forget we are trying to get the logistics of the Snowbirds Trial underway!! We never complain about work load, but I am happy to say, I cannot wait to see my hubby at the barnyard, for some well needed laughter and fun!!

Sunday..not a day of rest...a day of fullfillment..

Sundays are my favorite day!! The only thing that is wrong with Sunday is it precedes Monday (the worst day!) Sunday is "our" day meaning Ron and I get to go work our dogs together and relax! Rarely do I extend lessons to people on Sunday's so it makes it my only day off during the week. Working 6 days a week gets old..but it pays the bills!! I snapped some shots of a normal "Sunday" for us..not a lot to write...so I just thought I would share! Ron and I generally take 11 dogs to the field on Sunday..they don't necessarily all work, however they must learn to chain up and relax!!

Suede, Lace, Pearl and Sweep

Jesse, chip and Soot

Those who bark are not welcome field side..

Hi I'm Callie and  I bark a lot, there is no cure for my barking disease..

 A good days work had by all...

Moss the Mountain  loves his work!

 

 

A few others were in need of "lay off tune ups...

And the only time she is not barking...

Well after all there is some rest necessary...

Ron and Poncho found time to watch a movie!

So another great Sunday followed up with a mundane Monday...but only makes you look forward to the next time.. Until then Happy Herding!!!

The long road to the National Finals...2011

Colorado in view!

We set out for Carbondale on Thursday afternoon. The first day is a short jont to Yermo, Ca. The reason we have to set out and go 200 miles is 1. You cannot get out of San Diego efficiently on a Friday morning. 2. We have a very hot desert to cross and we gave to hit it early. Thursday afternoon was the major power faux pas in San Diego, it was an alarming situation however our place is in the capable hands of Leon. When I called home he already had the house on generator power and was filling reserve tanks of water!Now we have 1000 miles...let's get started!

My idea of traveling light!

We are traveling light on this trip (well if you don't consider the 18,000 lb trailer in tow!!) so what I mean is we only have 6 dogs on board..(well 5 1/2 considering chip is 9 weeks)! So few dogs means a luxurious ride in the backseat instead of the trailer!

Luxurious ride!

The only trouble so far is Ron's diva I mean bitch Jesse. She feels the need to tell everyone where to lay, how to lay, and how many times each can take a breath! What she doesn't realize is they are ignoring her!

Beautiful Utah!

The drive in many spots is boring plain desert; however there are sections of the drive that are just plain breath taking.  Utah has always been one of our most favorite spots.

We have nothing to report from the National finals so we had to rely on the great scenery for entertainment. The finals at Carbondale was fantastic. The sheep were even (but tough) the fields were perfect and the set out of course was #1! You couldn't have asked for a better place to be at a dog trial. The weather however...is weird!

A brief "gee what happen to her dogs" statement goes like this

"Soot" - sheep were a snap for her..HOWEVER..the type of sheep caused Fetch Deafness..a new disease that rarely occurs at 150 yards or less...(Naughty girl!)

"Sly"- sheep were heavy (as they were for all) . She listened, got around well, but a brief "sheep refuse to go around the post epidemic" struck as we really needed those minutes that were wasted away trying to convince the sheep "all was ok"!

"Callie"- Goal was met we didn't kill a sheep..she acted trained..however was basically run off by the wolf savvy beasts!

"Lace"- Outrun was Baaad...sheep were skeered due to the poor introduction of k9 to Ovine..

so that said..it's a long road home!! Prior to our leaving we added this to our madness

Moss the Mountain

Moss too quite a bit more real estate in the back seat...well more than Jesse the biotch was willing to share but after about 300 miles he settled in for the long road home.

Day 1 on the road was a long 10 hour day ending up in plenty of drama..a dog attack, a flat tire so...needless to say day 2 on the road wouldn't start as early as we had hoped. 9 hours was about our limit...I suggested we take a side trip then day 3 would be four hours home...a cinch and no traffic!!

The side trip we took is one we have always wanted to do. We decided to take a stab at the 'Ol Calico Ghost Town!

 Calico Ghost Town

Train Ride

All Aboard!

We walked around this town for hours..we had a blast, went on a train ride, mine tours, cold beer, and many laughs!

Adorable...well the town too!

We even took the time to travel back into the 1800's ourselves...

REWARD!!

After a nice afternoon of walking and sight seeing...we settled into a nice quiet camping spot where the K9z could run loose and burn off a little steam!

No neighbors!!! 

So after the side trip it was an uneventful 4 hours home the next day!! We are still trying to get back in the swing of the daily life and jobs..we look forward to the next one..as for now  we'll keep training (and clean the wax out of Soot's ears!!) As the old saying goes "there is no place like home!!"

Parched pastures welcomed the rain..shortly after our arrival!!!

Under the weather..is "Stretch"ing it...

Personal talk about the hill field in Zamora, and well "the lack of performance"!

Suede (aka: Stretchy noodle) is one of our special boys!! This photo is one of his normal poses! (hands are on this dog all the time) Not only is he great on the sheep, he is the sweetest most laid back boy in the group. Sunday morning at the big field down the road he was what I would call absolute perfection. I was complaining to Ron GEE I WISH HE WAS QUALIFIED...He didn't make the cut for the nurseries this year, was born bad date wise, but is going to be a hell - of  - a - dog! Sunday afternoon we were on a walk with the dogs..when Ron noticed a HUGE (grapefruit) sized lump on his side. Of course immediately we think he is dying. All those weird thoughts go through your head like "was that why he was so good on the field this morning", is "this why he is such a love" ...anyway..trying not to hyper-ventilate, I simply say that feels weird, I am taking him in.

Well long story short...of course I cannot get into my "regular" vet, so I have to see a new one in the 8 doctor practice. We didn't hit it off that well with her, however clinically she seemed to  be doing the right things. We agreed that this needed checking, both cellular and surgically. The cytology showed just some bacteria and white blood cells. So the chances of him dying of cancer were slimming. I decided to leave him there for the afternoon and they would do the surgery. It was apparent this needed draining.

side view of his LUMP-Removal

Close up of the pretty stitching job!

Numerous calls later to the vet..at 8:00 pm she still hadn't done the surgery. I was quite frank on the phone..stating I would have brought the dog back the next day had I known she couldn't do it...anyway I was annoyed to say the least. At 11 pm she called to say she had done everything, he was awake and fine. The mass was an abscess that was surrounded by granulated tissue (hence the hardness of the lump) no foxtail, no foreign body, just an abscess.

Stretchy is now laying around in my office and is being put on house arrest for a few weeks. I guess things work in mysterious ways..had he been qualified for the nurseries he couldn't have run...aren't things bizarre?