Watching my precious one week of freedom coming to and end, kind of like the ball that is about to hit TWooie in the face.
And what a glorious, hot, sunny week it was.
We did a little of this:
And a lot of this:
Quite a lot of this:
We even did a tiny bit of this:
That’s not Kieren, that’s Ghillie, who was adopted from me. Keiren did some sheeping too, but I have been too lazy to upload his video.
I did make a short video of Dexter’s third (and probably last!) time ever on sheep, since his constant snapping and Ugly Facing at the sheep amused me. The video is not very fancy, as I lack both the skill and patience to make quirky movie making software do what I want it to do, but you’ll get the idea.
The music is kind of sporadic as the stupid program would only let me use three songs.
The nice lady who tried our dogs out for us said “Dexter is afraid of the sheep.” No, really? Hah! And of her, and of her rake. Although this time he didn’t clamber out of the pen, or sit at the door with his back to the sheep staring at me to PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF DOG LET HIM OUT. Also, he was only scared of her in the pen – after they left the pen, he gave her a great big hug (“thanks for believing in me, sheep lady!”). He’s such a weird, strange dog.
The trainer thinks that in a bigger field with lots of repetition, Dexter can get over his fears and work. I think that at $25 a pop, Dexter can find a different (cheaper) way to get over his fears!
Kieren did very nicely – his tail was up much of the time, but he was super keen to please and a very sensitive guy, and really wanted to work the whole group and not peel anyone off, or go in for a cheap shot, or (*ahemDEXTER*) make Mad Teeth™ at them. This is all good news, as I have someone who is interested in him for working her sheep on her small ranch. If it pans out, I will be very sad to see him go, but the reality is that no matter how good he is on sheep, I cannot afford another hobby, so he should go to a home where he can do what he loves to do.
So … a wash out on sheep, and not so awesome at agility … it’s a good thing Dexter makes nice photos!
And nice smiles too :)
I’d love to stay and babble some more, but I was depressingly uninteresting for my whole vacation, pretty much. I didn’t get my deck built, or my house painted, or my garden planted. I didn’t even go very many places or do very many things to photograph/blog about. I am a boring person! Plus, SOMEONE would like me to throw the ball some more…
Piper gets what Piper wants!
Jenn says
You did exactly what vacations are for. A little of this, a little of that, and a whole lot o’nothing!
Poor Dex. I just get the idea that he hasn’t matured yet. Patience?
And those poor sheep… “Save us handler lady, save us from the mad teeth!”
Lynn says
I miss puppy Dexter, when he looked SHOCKED at everything. LOL
Ben says
Dexter isn’t afraid of the sheep. He’s like his brother, Hoot, and is rather sensitive to pressure. From the sheep, and the person. And the rake. Ditch the damn rake. Plus, he doesn’t really know what to do. I see some of Hoot’s control-frek tendencies in there, too. If you REALLY wanted to pursue it, he could learn stockwork, but I doubt he’ll ever be a very useful dog. I do wonder, though, if, like Hoot, he’d actually do better with less-broke stock. I know it’s counter-intuitive, but Hoot was a mess with knee-knockers when he started, but handled light sheep like a pro.
Oh, well. If Hoot got Dex’s working genes, I’m okay with it. He moved crazy yearlings and weaned lambs today, and adjusted himself accordingly for each group. Damn dog drives me crazy every day, but he’s a workaholic when it comes to sheep (and cows and turkeys and pigs…).
The Food Lady says
Dex doesn’t want to work anything – he does the same thing to the chickens (make ugly face, snarl, snap at them and then run away). As I edited the sound out, you can’t hear him growling and snarling at the sheep. I think he’s just kind of a dick.
Kieren will “work” the chickens though. Piper LOVES to work ducks. I am endlessly amused that my one ‘working bred’ border collie is the only one that doesn’t want to work ;-)
clairesmum says
dexter seems to have decided that being a photo star IS his job in this life, and what other work does he need to justify his existence – he already has mastered his (self assigned) job!
seriously, i think he is so smart that he freaks himself out sometimes, so much sensory information coming in all at once, sort like an ADD person who just doesn’t have the filters to ignore stuff and to quickly let go of stuff that is not relevant…..or maybe he’s just gonna be the perpetual male adolescent dog in your life! beautiful, charming, and irritating as all hell most of the time, and heart melting wonderful on unpredictable occasions. glad you have a whole pack of dogs, so that between them the ‘jobs’ are all taken care of.
Donna says
I sorta feel bad for Dexter. It looked like he was trying to work, but sheep lady wasn’t moving and giving him any place to take the sheep. To me he looked confused. Don’t really blame him. He wasn’t really given anything to do. I bet if sheep lady had done some moving around in the pen so Dexter had to hold sheep to her, he would have. Before you give up on him, you might want to try a different sheep lady.