Not Catching Up, for a change

How about this - a post where i don't have to start off apologizing for being a bad blogger and having to catch up?!

It's Labor Day weekend and there's not a lot going on around the Shoofly front. There's tons going on everywhere else in the world it seems like, trials all over the place, but we're not at one. I decided to just chill with the dogs and wait until the Finals in a couple of weeks rather than pack up and go to a trial beforehand. I'm positively itching to get to the Finals and run the dogs, that's for sure. But we'll be all rested up and i'm working daily on the dogs' conditioning to get ready. I'm sticking to mostly light work for Zac and Bill, with a little tuning up here and there. I got some fresh new sheep and we're having a good time working them. That's been good for them as well as me. Still, i wish the gap between Kingston and the Finals hadn't been so long. It felt like both dogs were right where i wanted them mentally for Finals when we got home from Canada. We'll see if it's held up.

I've been working the two youngsters pretty regularly. As with most youngsters, one day i think i have the next superstar and the next i'm wondering if they're going to work out. Zeke is a bit ahead of Tug in his training and seems a little more mature though they're the same age. Tug is keen keen keen and it gets in the way of his brain sometimes. Only time will tell but i'm hopeful that both will work out and at least one of them will be ready for Nursery next year. I'm also working Gael just a little, enough to make her a happy old dog.

I don't guess i've properly introduced Zeke. He's 13 months old, off of Joni's Lew and a bitch that is off of Raymond MacPherson's Roy. Zeke and Bill share the same father though i don't see a huge lot of similarity between them just yet. Here are a couple of pictures, in addition to the one above (and yes, i do have a matched set of white faced dogs for the Nursery with Zeke and Tug!)--