NvShadowBCs-Noggin' Doggin'

Sonoma pictures Special thanks to Gloria Atwater      Not sure if I have taken a knee in prayer.  Contemplating.  Or leaning on crook as not to fall over from nerves.  Ben looks happy and interested.                                 BEN                                 TIC Ewe knows how it feels to make it  to the end of the trial!

Zamora In the beginning....    Years ago my friend Peggy Wines convinced me to go to their family sheepdog trial in Zamora.  'Sheepdog trial?!?!  What is that?' To which she responded, 'well, you DO have a border collie.... '   'I think Lily will be a cow dog.  She is just a puppy you know?  But she is super smart and tough to boot!'         I must thank Peggy and Shannon Wines for almost literally dragging me to Zamora the first time.  Bill Slaven for testing Lily and declaring her "quite eager", sitting me at the judges table, and eventually setting me up with my first lesson with Patrick Shannahan the following year.  Driving home from my first taste of sheepdog trialing, I was hooked.  I thought it was impossible for a dog to do exactly what I witnessed all weekend.  It was magical.  I was thirsty to learn more. A Tale of Two Dogs (well 3) The Sledgehammer and the Feather...

    "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." -Henry David Thoreau      In the past, I have made numerous new years promises that I have not kept.  This year one of my resolutions was to work on big walls (destructing) and little boundaries (constructing). I very rarely take time off. This year I had the good fortune to be able to take a weeks break in our off season of work and herding to go visit a friend in Canada.  I left my dogs behind.                        Dogs were still the center of the visit.  Working dogs.  On a small working farm.  It was timeless in nature.  I felt like I had slipped back in history in a way. Reaching a time...

First comes trust,     Photo by Kelsey Nichols then comes loyalty.        Dogs are smart.  They all lead different journeys before they arrive.  The only time things are created equal is when they are in the litter, and even then there are inequities.  The little runt sometimes becomes the pick of the litter because he had to be tough to make it.  Multiple owners.  Genetics.  Environment.  Human quirkiness transference issues.        I like these words "first comes trust and then comes loyalty".  It is just part of some random fb post that I borrowed a part of.  It is very true on all accounts.  If there is NO trust, then there is NO loyalty.  And for my dogs, bless their hearts, they all come from different back grounds, experiences, exposures, and genetic predispositions.        My mentors lament that you should find the style ...

     The seasons keep rolling by us.  The challenge is in seeking daylight, which is graciously showing up more often,  safe conditions and warmth.               Our motley crew of herding volunteers.  Very fat and sassy this winter.      The dogs are looking forward to getting out.  Very happy with the extra hikes and ski outtings this year.  The Canadian and Idaho bred dogs are loving the snowy conditions.  The Nevada bred human, maybe not so much.       Currently shifting work from close to home, arena and home-field ranch work, to greater exposure within a reasonable and time sensitive distance.        Braving the terrain that isolates us from the rest of the world.  This small barrier that we call the Sierra Mountains.  Again, expanding horizons of what CAN be do...