Thanks to Laura over at Crooks and Crazies, my scribe is staying on task with my blog. Woot!! I will be thinking of a nice present to send Laura as thanks for getting my scribe going two weeks in a row.
Here are this week's questions:
1) In sheepdog training (or let's call it *any* type of training), how do you keep from taking yourself, your person, your lack of progress too seriously? posed by Ann
My person frequently suggests that I, and my packmates, should take her more seriously. Kyzer and Hamish listen to that nonsense, but they are suck-ups.
I don't really take *myself* seriously, but I do take very seriously my right to be on the bed without other dogs (Rafe, I'm speaking of you) getting in my space.
"Progress" requires thinking about the past and projecting into the future. As a dog, I don't think like that. I just pay attention to what I'm doing right now. Which at the moment is this
My scribe takes herself too seriously frequently. She should try and be more like me and she'd find that progress is only in the eye of the beholder. (We also try and remind the scribe that she came to stockdog training with no horse or other livestock experience and about a year's experience with dogs. The curve has been, let's just say, a little steep, and remembering that helps her not take it all too seriously.)
2) How many crates do you have? For reals
I used to have a crate at my old house that was mine, all mine. I also had a crate in the car that was mine, all mine. Those days have passed, though and I have no crates to call my own. There are some crates in our house, though. Each of our kitties has a crate (3), there are soft-sided crates that the people take on long trips (2), there are the crates in the basement in case of a tornado (5), there are crates in the rolling living room (4 or 5, depending on whether Lad is going), there are crates for dogs who can't be trusted unsupervised (3), there are the puppy crates for, you know, any puppies (2) and there may be another couple hiding here or there, so that makes 20+. Yikes. Thanks for pointing that out. On the other hand, sounds like we're in good company.
Here's me using the crate in an unconventional way
3) How do you keep your people in shape?
We run them around the yard, insisting they throw things for us. Kyzer always makes it easy on them by bringing the stuff back to them, but the rest of us make them walk a little ways. We take them on off-leash walks around our property and I take my scribe on the special task of going to the mailbox (about 1/4 mile). I try to get her to run, but she usually declines. We go on hikes with them sometimes, too, but we don't really trust them to be off leash around other people.
4) Who is your favorite movie/tv star eye candy at the moment?
I find several of the movie stars in this clip pretty easy on the eyes
5) What is your livestock situation? Have your own? Borrow? Herd the cats? (You can substitute other equipment for livestock if you don't work stock with your dogs)
We moved to a new place in December so that we could have some livestock. We have 15 sheep waiting for their pasture to be fenced and somewhere there are some chicks, who are a twinkle in their momma's eye, who will come live with us next spring. For now, though, some of us go and visit Laddie's parents' farm and Kyzer's mom's farm. Some of us (me and Renzo) keep the home fires burning while that happens. We are all curious to see how Renzo will respond to our sheep and chickens. That should be a lot of fun!
