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

07/30/2015 Jig’s Journey ~ Cow Camp

When the opportunity to attend a Larry Painter Cow Camp presented itself, I jumped at it. Jig loves cows but rarely sees them. That makes it a bit unfair when we go to a trial and I'm expecting her to handle them like a pro. I'd heard nothing but good things about Larry Painter and so was thrilled when I got a spot. So, on the 22nd I loaded up the truck and headed out to Ohio where the clinic was being hosted. Needless to say, I had a blast and, despite the heat, we managed to learn a lot and come home with plenty to work on. Before our first session I watched the other dogs work and listened to Larry's comments and instruction. One thing he was working on was getting the dog to hold the pressure and not pop out of the pocket. Translate that to mean, when a dog

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

01/10/2015 Touching Base

I know I promised I'd post more, but really, there's not a lot that happens around here in the winter. Not with the frigid weather we've been having. Chores, chipping ice out of buckets that are supposedly heated, and trying to keep the dogs from going stir crazy. Especially Jig. What I do during these times, is try to get caught up on inside projects that are languishing. One of those is the portrait of Shaine that's been laying on my drawing table for…well

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.)

11/19/2014 A Tribute to My Narcoleptic Puppy

Quinn turned twelve on the 8th of November. He has no clue. Seriously. Outside of exhibiting some signs of going deaf, it's hard to tell he's a 'senior' now. He still tears across the yard with his brephew (brother-nephew), makes snow angels, barks at me in his big-dog bark, and hops around like an absolute fool when he thinks we're going to do something fun. Or when he's in a good mood. Which, with Quinn, is almost always. He is the most mellow, relaxed dog I've every lived with; at ease just about everywhere, with everyone. And yes, as a puppy we swore he was narcoleptic because any time you picked him up, he fell asleep. I remember him as a tiny guy, laying in the palm of my hand, legs draped over the sides, happily snoozing away. Last month, I officially retired Quinn from the trial arena. I had hoped

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