Minnie's Christmas Wish

Back in August we were loaned 3 Dorper Ewes to practice herding. Their owner referred to them as "cheap sheep" so if anything happened to them they wouldn't be too expensive for us to replace. We also assumed that they are older ewes. These sheep have been wonderful for working Minnie and Zoe on. We have been using them off and on since we brought them home.

Minnie loves herding and loves being able to work the sheep. We now believe Minnie had a secret Christmas wish of more sheep. Well she must have been a VERY good girl because on Christmas Eve morning, 2 hours after doing chores, Glenn looked out to see that one the ewes had 8 extra legs. That's right she gave birth to 2 ram lambs. We had no idea that she had been bred before coming to our house. Mom and babies are doing great. We have named them Dasher and Dancer in honor of the holiday season.

This is Dasher, he has a black down his neck and a black spot on his back.


Dancer on the left, Dasher on the right.










The above photos were take yesterday. Today the weather turned to cloudy and threatening to rain so we moved the ewes and lambs into the barn. Yesterday we also noticed that a 2nd ewe has developed and udder. I looked at her again today and she looks like she could go anytime now (keep in mind I'm not a sheep expert). Here are some photos taken with my phone in the barn.

Here are the three ewes. The one in the middle is the one who just lambed. The spotted one on the left is the one that is bagged up and I believe will lamb soon. Then we have the one on the left. After spending some time looking at her, we also believe that she is bred and will be lambing in the next couple of weeks!











With more lambs to come, I'd say Minnie got her wish. ;)

(On a side note-we have spoken with ewes' owner and will continue to handle the lambing for her. She is busy with her critically ill husband. We haven't had a chance to find out if this was as much a surprise to her as it was to us. However I'm guessing she would have mentioned it or asked for the back before now if she was expecting it.)

Cardi Claus and OFA

Wow, the girls and I received so many wonderful things from our Cardi Claus, Krystal Durre and The 7 Dwarfs.

Here is a shot of all the wonderful things that were included. There are some wonderful treats, a couple stuffed toys, a leash holder, scarfs, mix to make to more treats, a pin, and of course an ornament.


Here is another shot of all the items. The treats were made by Krystal herself. The treat mix and scarfs were made by MacroniMade on Etsy.


This wonderful pin cardi/sheepy pin made by Emily of DreamEyce.


A beautiful leash holder made by Krystal's husband. It will be my husbands job to hang it up this week. :)


Our lovely ornament which is painted to look like Zoe.


Here is Minnie showing off her scarf.


Then she noticed Rudolf and decided she must have him!


"Who me? I didn't steal anything..." (please excuse the lemon blossoms on the carpet)


Meanwhile Zoe was hoping her new trick would earn her more treats.


But then Zoe noticed Minnie and Rudolf and had to investigate.


Then Zoe stole him, such a mean mom. ;)


So Minnie decided to play with alligator instead.


Zoe continued to chew on Rudolf, but ended up dropping him.


"Ha, she dropped him!"


Minnie then reclaimed him and took him to be with the alligator under her watchful eye.



In other news we got Minnie's OFA results back. I believe you can click on the picture for a larger image, but it states her elbows are normal and her hips have been rated as Good.



It's been a great week for us!

Pictures of a 2 year old Minnie... and some of her family

Today we went over to visit Carolyn and Tom at C-Myste. Since Minnie turned 2 on the 29th of November we decided she needed some new photos, her last stacked one's being taken when she was a year old. She still has a bit of wave to her coat, but I figure not bad for using my personal hair dryer. HUGE thanks to Tom for taking the pictures and to Carolyn for baiting and stacking her. It wasn't an easy task as Minnie was sure she was supposed to sit and not stand.

Here is her off-side


"Are you sure you don't want me to sit?"


Her show side.


On the move.


She's sure Tom has something tasty for her.


Afterwards it was time to learn a new trick.


Zoe got to come as well. She hadn't been to Carolyn's since Minnie was conceived. She just helped herself like she was just there yesterday.



Daddy and Daughter photo.


Minnie say's sometimes after all that seriousness, you just need to be a goof!

Cardi Claus has left Oregon

The blue girls and I decided to join in the Cardi Claus festivities this year. The package is on it's way east. I had fun time shopping for our recipients and hope they enjoy the items as much as I did picking them out. I don't know if our recipients read our blog, but if they do I'd like to apologize for the shredding paper inside the box. I packaged it up at work and wasn't able to find news paper to use. Now to sit back and wait for it to get to its destination. :)

Birthday Girl (plus late update)

Happy Birthday Minnie!! Today is her 2nd birthday. Hard to believe she's 2 already. We've had so much fun with her these past 2 years and look forward to many more. Today she's spending her birthday as a relaxing day at home. This weekend we have "glamor shots" planned. We are going to go over to Grandma Carolyn's and get some help grooming and stacking for photos. Then on Tuesday she will be having X-Rays taken for OFA evaluation.

I was a bad blogger and didn't post about Minnie's latest show. She was entered at Roseburg in Rally Excellent. She was entered in 3 days and Q'd all 3 days to earn her RE title. I tried for video but with it being indoor it was too poor of lighting for my camera. We did have a title picture taken so I will post that once we get that.

In other news, Zoe was spayed a week ago today. She's been a trooper and been good at following doctors order.

That's all for now.

Another great weekend!

We spent this weekend at the show in Richland, WA. We all had a great time. We saw a lot of great dogs. Minnie and Zoe had a mini family reunion. Her brother Pip (formally known as Almo) and his owners stopped by. It was nice to meet him. Tom took pictures of the girls with Pip and Huxley. Looking forward to see how those turned out.

Minnie was also entered in Rally Advance while we there. She already had one leg and we were hoping to get 2 more to complete her title. She did it. She qualified both days taking 2nd place on Saturday and 3rd place on Sunday.

Here are videos of her Glenn at work

Saturday


Sunday



We are just so proud of the progress Minnie has made. We are thinking we will continue on and work on getting her RE.

On our way home we stopped in Clackamas and had Minnie's CERF exam done. I'm happy to report that the results were Normal.

Zoe is doing well. I'm thinking about taking some obedience classes with her this winter. She's come a long ways, but there is still a ways to go.

We are also considering starting both girls in Agility classes this winter as well.

Weekend of Herding

Minnie and Zoe had a very full weekend of herding. We competed in the Snowy Butte ASC Harvest Fair Trial. Both girl were entered in all three Started Sheep Trials. Saturday morning was very successful for them both. They both earned qualifying scores. Zoe's time was 1:55 and Minnie's was 2:13. The were running ASCA course B.

Here is Zoe's first run



Here is Minnie's first run



I didn't get video of the girls second run. It was late and my camera doesn't do well with video in low light. They were doing course B again under a different judge. Minnie earned her second qualifying score earning her (pending ASCA approval) her STDs. Zoe missed qualifying by one point.

Sunday morning Zoe had another chance to earn her second leg. They were running course E which is a harder course. She sure tried! She missed qualifying this time by a mere 1/2 point. If it was time based her run of 1:38 would have won. Glenn sure got his exercise this weekend. :) Here is the video of that run.



We had a lot fun this weekend. We are looking forward to more in the future. One of Minnie's cousin came and watched her. The cousin was very interested, maybe she and her Mom will join in on the fun sometime soon? :) In the meantime Minnie is entered in Richland this weekend in Rally Advanced. For those of you going, see ya there.

Zoe's lastest accomplishment

I have been working this month off and on, around my graveyard schedule, with Zoe. We've been working on heeling (now that she's not handler dependant when herding) sit, down and stay. I have learned while Zoe comes off as a "blond" she's really not. She's more the "what's in it for me" type. "Oh you have a treat, ok I'll sit." and then there's "Wait no treat? I'm not sure I know this sit word you speak of." In all fairness she has improved greatly, but isn't a 100% with her response. I'd say we get sit about 80-90% of the time. She seems to have stay for the most part. I'm also very pleased with her come. Down is whole different story. Her downs are not pretty, treat or no treat. She is also very inconsistent with them. This being said we decided to try for her CGC. I was confident that she should pass almost all elements of the test. She heels decently, doesn't have a problems with distractions or crowds, and anyone who knows Zoe, knows she's never met a stranger. :) The only thing I was unsure about was the down. I decided that it would be a good experience and if she failed, no big deal it was only $10.

Well....



I am so proud of her!!!!

It will be awhile before she's ready for the rally ring. I think this winter we will take some obedience classes and get things consistent and fine tuned.

In the meantime we still have 2 full weekends ahead of us. This weekend both Minnie and Zoe are entered in a local ASCA herding trial. They will doing Started on Sheep. If they are successful they have the chance to complete their ASCA Started Dog title here.

Next weekend it's a trip to Richland, WA. Minnie will be competing in Rally Advance in hopes to complete her RA title. Zoe is coming for moral support as always. Plus both girls will get see Garrett and several other friends. Should be a very fun couple of weeks. :)

September is going to busy

We have a busy month coming up. Both girls are entered in a local upcoming ASCA trial. It will be September 24 and 25th. Both girls entered in sheep runs Sat AM, PM, and Sunday AM.

Then the following weekend Minnie is entered in the Richland Kennel Club show in hopes of completing her Rally Advanced title. We'll see how it goes since she just came into heat and won't be able to go to class until she goes out. Hard to say how many classes we will be attend before the show, on the upside we don't have to worry about her coming in during the show.

A local kennel is offering CGC testing middle of Sept. I'm debating on having Zoe tested. She's a very well behaved dog, but we haven't worked much on obedience. Her healing is lacking and while she knows sit and down she's not reliable about it. We have a couple weeks, so between graveyard shifts this month (yuck) we will keep working on it and see where we end up at.

Here's the certificate

Minnie, Zoe, and their friend Rocket's herding practice

The dogs got some herding practice in today. We are very pleased with the progress the girls are making. Both girls have been entered into the ASCA trial being held here locally on the 24th and 25th of September. Both girls have been entered on sheep. We are excited to see how it goes.

Below are videos of the girls. I didn't take any time to edit. I will apologize in advance for poor cinematography. :) Also on Minnie's run I was fighting with focus, and losing, so it's not the best.

Here is Zoe, she was first up for the day.



Next up was Minnie, she was little distracted at first but turned on in no time.



Now we have Rocket. Rocket is Glenn's 8 year old Border Collie/McNab cross. Rocket hasn't worked stock in years and is so happy to be back at it. Here is the end of his run.

It's official!!!

Hard to read, but Minnie is now officially Ebonwald A Minnesota Blessing RN. :)

Zoe's day at the beach.

We went to Bandon this weekend for the Coos Kennel dog show. Minnie was entered in Rally, which you can read about in the previous post. Zoe went as moral support for Minnie and her former Minnesota roommate, Brewer, who was doing conformation.

On Sunday after all the events we decided to take Zoe to the beach with her new found Cardi friends. She had a blast!

Zoe and Summer running down the beach.

Zoe's standing in the surf, watching the tide come in.

Brewer and a VERY dirty Zoe checking out a hole


Zoe in the water


Hanging out by my shoes looking back up to the parking lot.


Here are videos I took of them playing. Cardis seen in the videos are Zoe, Brewer, Summer, Captian, and Malibu.

Rally Results

This weekend we attempted to complete Minnie's Rally Novice title. I'm very happy to report that we did it!!!! Minnie completed all three legs of her title in only 3 attempts. Below are pictures of our final RN run.

Healing between stations.


Fast pace


270* Left




Since she completed her RN and we had signed her up for both days we decided to move up to Rally Advanced for Sunday. We had only worked her off leash in 2 different sessions so I was nervous how it would go. I'm very happy report that her Glenn were successful in earning her first RA leg and took first place. Below is the video of their run.



So now pending confirmation from AKC Minnie is Ebonwald A Minnesota Blessing RN CGC

Full house

We have had a full house this last weekend. Fri-Sunday I was watching my sister's dog, Kylah. Then from Sunday until this Thursday we have Minnie. So that mean for several hours on Sunday there were 5 dogs in our house. I attempted to get a photo of them all together, but with 5 dogs all thinking different things, the few I have below are the best (and then to top it off, I cut off Minnie's nose.

Left to right:Minnie, Kylah, Bandit, Girlfriend and Zoe.

*Classic group photo where someone has their eyes closed. :p

Bandit managed to keep his eyes open for this one.

Zoe is a couch queen. I took this at my parents house.

Zoe and Bandit have become snuggle buddies. It's not uncommon to find them curled up together on the couch. It's amazing how almost everyone loves Bandit, including Zoe.

Zoe and Minnie spying on the neighbors. The dogs have learned if they stand on the hot tub (which doesn't work) they can see over the 6ft wood fence.

Then they proceed to bark at neighbor. How dare he be outside cleaning his travel trailer! lol

I took pictures of the girls' offsides. I think they look similar however Minnie is heavier on the "eyeliner"

There is also a new game in my house. The cat, Mosaic, has learned she can chase Minnie. It can be quite entertaining!

This weekend we will be headed to Bandon. We will be cheering on our Corgis friends in their conformation classes. We will also be attempting to complete Minnie's Rally Novice. If we are successful on Saturday with that, then we will also try for a Rally Advanced leg. Zoe is just coming for moral support. I haven't entered her Rally as she needs work still with her healing, but I'm putting that off until she is less dependant on a handler when it comes to herding.

Wish us luck!