6 more weeks?

Yesterday the PA groundhog was said to have seen it's shadow. Now I don't know WHERE in PA this animal is living but I can tell you the sun never showed it's face around here yesterday. Overcast morning followed by a steady snow in mid afternoon. I was able to get down to Nola's and mess around with Diamond. Lunged her a bit and rode some. It really is frustrating to me to not be able to ride for more than 15 minutes if I want to walk without looking like John Wayne the next day. She bucked like a banshee on the lunge line and I had reservations about taking her on. Thankfully she must have gotten it all out of her system before I climbed (and I do mean climbed, it really is pathetic ) up on her for a little walking and trotting.

Woke this morning to just enough snow to cover the ground. Super dry , sugar fine snow . I got my grocery shopping done early. I took Spirit, Dream, and Bracken for a walk in the lower pastures and around the hay field. Deigh was limping a little so I did not take her. She was not pleased. I had missed the walks. I stopped going because the two hellions Rush and Flint had taken to running off chasing after deer. It just was too stressful for me to see them running off screeching like banshees into the woods. "Would they come back, would they chase them across a road, would a car be coming by ??? ". It was nice out there in the snow, just at about freezing and no wind. I really enjoyed it and missed it. I am sure my three girls will second this. After the walk I worked five dogs. I'll admit I was lasy and used the " puppy " sheep for the three trained dogs. I wanted to work on specific things and these sheep would be okay for what I wanted to do.
I worked on clean flanks and stops as well as some splits and sheds. Spirit really has a good grasp of splits, but still needs work on a single. She was lining sheep out well and coming through nice. Holding the sheep off the others with determination. I did not attempt to shed off a single sheep as she was looking tired and getting jazzed at the same time. Quit on a high note.
Dream is not really grasping the concept of seperating sheep from each other. I have found with her that she struggles quite a bit at learning something new. In the end because she tries very hard and is a nice biddable dog that once she gets past her block and learns something she is quite good at the task. This part is frustrating for me, and I have to really concentrate on not getting impatient with how she learns. She managed several good splits and held two of them fairly well.
Bracken was pretty good today as well. Stopping better. She had really been fighting me last fall on stopping. Push, Push, Push. Seems we have reached an understanding. She was brilliant on shedding , called her in on a tough single and she held that sheep off the others as if her life depended on it. These sheep are tough because they do not string out as " normal " sheep should. They huddle close with heads down. So for a dog to come in and through takes force. This helps in some ways but not in others as I can't say I have ever had sheep react as this bunch does while I am in the shedding ring at a sheepdog trial. Still they are valuable in getting a dog to come in a tough situation or when there is not gap to call them through.

Then onto the young dogs. Eight months old...I have to keep reminding myself. Had them out in the smaller hay field. Third time out of the round pen and maybe the tenth time on sheep.

Rush worked quite well. Getting a little better at feeling her sheep on walk abouts. She gave me some very nice stops on balance, even laying down. The thing I was most pleased about was when her session was over and I asked her to lie down , she stayed put and I was able to collect her long line and give her a  "that'll do" .

Flint worked quite well too ! Still giving me some away flanks that are too big, but he was checking in better and correcting himself for getting too wide and over running balance. He really has a good wear on him and I was able to do quite a bit of walk abouts in the field having him hold the sheep to me. What I was most thrilled about today was that he finally hit the deck when on balance and I asked him to lie down. Not once but on several requests. I did not want to push my luck with him, so had him wear the sheep to the round pen and let them go in. He stood and I was able to collect the long line and give him the official end of session "That'll do ' He followed right with me.

I wish I could have had time to go work with Diamond but just ran out of day. A good day, I might add !