Catching Up

Yes, I know, I’ve been a bit negligent about posting. No real reason. Partly I just didn’t feel I had anything of much interest to write about, partly I was having my yearly internal debate about whether or not to continue the blog, or perhaps turn it into something else (no, I don’t know what — if you have a suggestion, feel free to pass it along). If I’m being honest, I think I’m still adjusting to how much my life has changed since the pre-pandemic era. I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling that way, it’s changed quite a bit for a lot of people. It seems rather odd I would be bothered by that (which also serves to annoy me) as I’m pretty good with change and always enjoy a challenge. Plus, some of what’s transpired were things I’d actually dreamt about.

Then again, maybe I succumbed to a bit of SAD — the seasonal affective disorder, not THE Sad. Although that’s made a couple of unexpected appearances over the past several months as well which always catches me off guard and likely always will.

Whatever the reason, here I am once again, tapping away at the keys, driven by whatever force it is that compels me to create. Unlike the numerous other drafts between the last post and this one, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to delete the entire post once I’m finished. Yes, that is a thing. That’s due to my mood at the moment being better than it has been in quite some time. Not only is the weather gorgeous today (and gorgeous in my book is sunny, and above 40), several of my favorite women are descending on my house tomorrow for a girl’s weekend of working dogs, camaraderie, talking dogs, eating, drinking, laughing, and all the other shenanigans that take place when we get together. It’s definitely just what the doctor ordered and will be a nice escape for a few days.

A quick update on the boys… Dillon and I spend most of our sessions training my sheep to behave a bit better than they’ve been allowed to in the past. What that mainly entails is working them in the arena, making sure they understand that if they try to run the dog will cover and control them, and getting them comfortable with being left at the far end away from the draw. It also means we get to work on Dillon’s driving and his inside flanks, as well as getting me to stop repeating commands. We usually wind up making a couple attempts at a free-standing pen because Dill is truly task-oriented and he’s begun to understand that job so I get to focus more on me and the sheep than him. Plus we both have a good time doing it, and get to end our session on a good note whether we’re successful or not.

With Finn, it’s more work on his pens again. He was getting better, but we’ve reverted. He really doesn’t want to go in because then, invariably, the sheep come out (ya think?!!?) and that is just unacceptable in his world. I have to admit, though, I’m seeing some increased maturity in the boy. He’s far better about going into corners without making it a race to the other side, and I’ve been able to up the game by introducing inside flanks. We were fortunate enough to attend a cattle clinic last month. It went really well and he gave me some good work.

Out of a lack of anything else to share, here’s a short clip of Finn at the clinic. We were mainly working on keeping him behind as he likes to head (which gives me Jig flashbacks and nothing good can come of that).