Tag Archives: dogs

Fun with sheepdogs

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I was at my sheepdog lesson Thursday (the lesson is more for me than the dog) and found out that there was a trial this weekend. The trainer encourages a few of us to go and the facility is only a mile from my house so, why not? Here is a picture of Rusty before:

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I had to worm all the ewes this morning and at noon I had Rusty gather the rams for their treatment and then do some more work. Just trying to take the edge off so that maybe he’d be calmer in the trial.  That photo is how is looks after a dip in the wading pool and then a roll in the dirt.

After he dries off he doesn’t look so bad if I brush him. Here he is waiting in anticipation for his turn.

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We watched the Advanced competition, the Open competition and then we werer third to last in the Started dogs. Lots of waiting. Rusty did very well and came home with a third place out of 16 entries!

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We’ll go back tomorrow for another round of this. If he gets a qualifying score again then he gets a certificate of some kind.  (And according to the Wizard of Oz its those certficates that are important–don’t ask me where that came from–too much sun?)

My New F-word–F…Foxtail

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Also could be titled “Yet Another Reason I Don’t Get to the Loom”.

I trimmed border collie, Rusty’s, feet this weekend. I was late in the season and his toes were packed with foxtails. I was able to pull most out, but there was one place that was oozy and I couldn’t find a foxtail with my non-medical equipment (tweezers). I waited until Monday and took him to the vet. While he was on the table the oozy spot squirted out the foxtail and we were going to let it go at that. The vet, as any good vet would, suggested checking Rusty’s ears. He hadn’t shown any signs (shaking head, etc), but he sure wouldn’t let us hold him well enough to look in the left ear.  So I left Rusty to be knocked out for a better look. The little foxtail on the left below therefore cost me $200. Two days later the foxtail on the right cost me $50 (lots of shaking his head, but able to pull it out without the sleeping drugs).

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For those of you whose dogs live in utopia and don’t know about foxtails here is what they look like:

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And this is a whole field of them. The vet recommended that we landscape our yard so that we don’t have foxtails. Ummm…that would be another thing that has been on the list–not “landscaping”, but planting some bushes and turning the dog paths into paths with some kind of surface that doesn’t turn to mud in the winter. I did go out with the weed eater and try to zap the foxtails growing in the yard around the house.

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As I was weed-eating  I noticed the pomegranite trees. I love pomegranites–not just to eat, but the whole cycle of the flower.

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Here is a flower that has just lost it’s petals and you can see the part behind the star-like points will become the pomegranite. Those are flower buds that haven’t opened around it.

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This one still has one petal but is already starting a baby pomegranite.

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These pomegranites will be included in the fall produce baskets for Gourmet Farm Club members.  See the following link:   http://www.meridianjacobs.com/exec/eFarmClub.asp

Hot dogs

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The TV weather people are thrilled. They get to say “triple-digits” for the first time this year. We’re not so thrilled–I like the 80’s and even the low 90’s, but I can do without triple-digits. We don’t have A/C and count on the whole house fan and the evening delta breezes to cool us off at night.  I don’t see any delta breezes yet and I have a little clip-on fan blowing on me while I sit at the computer.

My son and his new wife are finishing up their honeymoon. In fact they are on a plane as I write and we’ll be picking them up in S.F. tonight. I’ve been dog-sitting since Thursday. The dogs’ other grandmother had them for the first part of the week. These dogs live in the foothills and aren’t used to triple-digits either.

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Sam is an Akita-mix. On his first day he spent a lot of time in the pool.

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Guiness is a 7-month old puppy (already 70 pounds) and spent a lot of time in the hot afternoon sleeping near my computer. He has his head on the teddy-bear that he carries around with him.

The hot dogs will be glad to get back to the mountains tonight.