The new girls

I have 3 new ewes. A couple of very nice people let me have 3 for probably the price of 1. I appreciate it very very much! They are beautiful, 2 Katahdin and 1 Katahdin/Dorper X.

My other sheep wanted to check out the new girls, but the goats decided to be clicky and not accept them.

I'm sure they will eventually all be friends.

My plan is to separate my ram and goats from my little flock of ewes for now. I love my goats but they really do make it hard for me. They want everything their own way and they make it difficult to separate out the sheep when I need to work dogs. The sheep follow the goats and do everything the goats tell them. 

I really like these new ewes. Crue can hardly wait to work them!

Crue working

We finally got some pictures of Crue working sheep. Sorta.

He's very fast right now so it's hard to get a good picture of him. Plus my camera sucks. You click and a couple seconds later it decides to take the picture. Lots of pictures with dust trails but no dog.

We did manage to get a few half way decent ones though.

And even a couple where he was stationary. It didn't last long though.

I'm very happy with his progress so far. He's very fun to work with. Very biddable and seems mostly to stay off the sheep. When I cue him with my stock stick to turn, he bends out and turns nicely. Being young we have some not so stellar moments, but overall I'm really enjoying working with him.

Some dogs...

just want everything!

I had to leave all the dogs at home today. I usually take 3 of them and always take the Poodle, but I won't be home till late and they'd have to stay in crates at the shop so I thought they'd be happier in the kennels. We put Torka in with Meg as she has a kennel to herself (nobody else wants to room with her) and she likes the poodle. She has a large igloo, but she can be kinda possessive of it so we put a small crate with a towel in it for the poodle.

Meg just wants everything!

Crue on sheep

For the 4th time in his life. Last time he was on sheep was almost a year ago at Vergil Holland's. I've been hesitating putting him on since getting my sheep because they are just lambs and never been worked by dogs. I've worked them a few times with most of my dogs but they are still rather wild and being lambs they don't know where to go or what to do. They also are very people shy so they don't want to come near me at all. I worked them down a bit with Seth and Meg then put Crue on a long line and took him in. I made him lie down inside while I chained the gate shut. Then I walked him toward the sheep on the line and we just walked around a bit before I let him go. He was correct, but the sheep decided he was the dog from hell come to get them anyway and one of the lambs hit the gate and popped it right up off the hinges and flipped herself over. Fortunately they ran to the far end of the pen instead of going out the gate. That was because Crue was there. I downed him which he amazingly did and my good boy stayed down there and watched his sheep till I could get the gate back on the hinges ( cussing my stupid luck the whole time). I chained the gate at the hinges this time so it couldn't pop off if they hit it again. I went near the sheep and cued Crue with my stick and off he went. It really was amazing how he did what I asked him and took both sides like he'd been working for weeks instead of a couple days a year ago. Says a lot for breeding. He did get a few grips in here and there, but only when the sheep were trying to stay on the fence and he didn't know how else to get them off. No fear in him that's for sure. I worked him till he got tired and he downed perfectly and I went to him and told him what a wonderful and amazing dog he was. He was very happy. I was very happy. I am sorry to say though, no pictures. You will have to use your imagination. I am going to start looking for a couple older dog broke ewes though. After I get the trash cleared by the house and after I replace the broken hot water heater.
Good boy Crue!