03/02/2016 Remembering With a Smile

I won't deny it, this winter has been a bit tough. See, Quinn loved snow, squiggling in it, snorkeling, making snow angels, it didn't matter. Consequently, I've been missing him a lot. Though I normally keep these moments to myself, I came across this short video clip while looking for another file in my Dropbox. It made me cry, I admit it. But it also made me smile, and I hope it does that for you.   [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYs30nfIrhE]

10/20/2015 Jig’s Journey ~ 2015 ASCA Nationals Wrap-up

I made it home Friday afternoon and I'm still trying to get back into the swing of my usual routine. That's always hard after an extended vacation. Triply hard this time. And with the rest of the month being just as busy, I don't foresee a chance to catch my breath until November. The trip to TN was great fun, all things considered. As usual, I got to visit with folks I only see once a year. I watched a lot of runs, laughed, ate, drank, cried

10/14/2015 Jig’s Journey ~ 2015 ASCA Nationals Part 2

First, a huge thank you to everyone for the well-wishes, kind thoughts, and memories about Quinn. Today was better than yesterday, but going home is going to be the hard part, I think. In any event, today was another day off for us. Our Open runs will all be tomorrow, and if we get done at a decent time, we'll be loading up and hitting the road to get at least half the trip home under our belts. We spent the day split between watching the Advanced cattle runs and standing in line to give Jig a chance to try dock diving. Since the girl is so crazy about retrieving, even when it involves braving the cold and crashing waves of Lake Michigan, I thought I'd see what she thinks about diving off a dock to retrieve her dummy. And no, I'm not the dummy. The dogs who haven't jumped off a

10/13/2015 Farewell to a Piece of My Heart and Jig’s Journey ~ 2015 ASCA Nationals Part 1

This is a tough Nationals for me and I nearly didn't make the trip. On the Tuesday before we were to leave, Quinn got sick. I honestly said my goodbyes to him right then and there. As I took him into the emergency vet I was pretty positive I wouldn't be walking out with him. I did, but a trip to my vet later in the morning didn't give me much good news. Still, over the next couple of days he seemed to be improving to a point where I felt I could safely leave him and he'd still be there when I got home. It's a decision I won't ever second-guess. I guess Quinn wanted me to remember him as I last saw him and not as his health declined. So he put on a good face and I felt a bit better about packing up and heading to

09/21/2015 Jig’s Journey ~ RRVASC Trial

I've come to the conclusion that trialing Jig is a lot like handling some highly explosive chemical. It's certainly exciting, as long as you don't jostle it too much because that's when it blows up in your face. I entered the RRV trial this past weekend to see where we're at before heading to Nationals. I have a couple weeks to firm up our weakest areas and want to make sure I'm focusing on the right ones. She does so brilliantly at home, there's no way of gauging our progress without putting it to the test. There were some good parts, some terrible parts, and not much in between. The good parts earned us a few class placements, an Open Duck title, one leg toward her Open Sheep title, and High Combined Non-WTCH for the a.m. trial. The terrible resulted in a JCT. That came in our last sheep run. Apparently, five

07/09/2015 Jig’s Journey ~ Summer Already?!!?

I've been a bit of a slacker on keeping up with posts. Problem is, I've been super busy. If you've ever checked out my writing blog, you'll see I've been almost as absent over there. If you haven't, Wednesday's post will give you some idea what's been gobbling up all my time. And yes, training is part of that. Among other things, the end of June was the Steve Shope clinic here at the farm. This year, Steve threw down the gauntlet and laid out some expectations for the dogs who will be returning next year. Some of us have been a bit

11/30/2014 Jig’s Journey ~ Revisiting Nationals

Just a quick (photo-intensive) post to share some of my favorite photos from our cattle runs at the pre-trial and National's trial. Thanks to Lori Herbel of XP Photography for the excellent shots. (You'll notice our National's run was much calmer than the pre-trial run.)

11/11/2014 Jig’s Journey ~ ASCA Nationals Part II

Yeah, this is a bit late, but I'm still trying to catch up from being gone for ten days. First, from the Brazos County Expo website, a much better image of the grounds than any I could get. I would gladly go back. The grounds were great, the hosts wonderful, the stock some of the nicest I've found at a Nationals. When we set out for Nationals I had a goal: finish both Jig's remaining started titles. I'm pleased to say we accomplished that goal. Did we do as well as I had hoped? Nope. But did I still have a blast, and do I still love my dog? Absofreakinlutely. Time and miles. Jig needs both. Our sheep runs fell completely apart, which served to catch me totally off guard because on the home turf in training she does very well. We got in that looooonnnnngg arena, and suddenly I no longer existed

11/02/2014 Jig’s Journey ~ ASCA Nationals Part I

We arrived at the Expo center in Bryan, Texas at noon on Friday. The trip down had been fairly smooth and uneventful. Just the way every trip should be. Jig handled it well. For her. There were only two minor incidences. One involving getting her neck and front leg so entangled in a canvas bag Gail had in the back seat that we were forced to cut the strap to get it off her. And one involving her chewing nearly all the way through her harness. The part on her chest, I may add. Quite a feat if you ask me. Thankfully I had a bicycle harness along to replace it with. Mostly, she spent a lot of the trip doing this: We did finally hit on something we think may be her issue while traveling: speed. She's pretty calm and relaxed until around 70 mph. Then she starts to get