The dogs are clipping along. Zac is happy and bouncy and wishing i'd work him more. Of course, i could be a full time shepherd with a thousand ewes and only him for help, and Zac would still be wishing i'd work him more. I think he'll go to his grave with "sheep, sheep, sheep" running through his brain. I pulled him out and worked him some this past weekend and he's surely achieved that place of "an old pair of gloves", where we know each other so well and fit together so nicely. Bill is fat and happy, and i'm hoping we change that to fit and happy in the near future. It's about time to start thinking about shaking off the winter layer and getting ready for spring trials. Zeke and Joe have been getting more of my training attention, with Joe getting the larger part of that. I'm still trying to figure out where Zeke fits into my trial line up. He's such a good work dog, and i'd like him to be my #2 Open dog when Zac is ready to retire. Joe seems to be working his way into the line up as well. He just turned two and if he could just cool his overly keen self down a bit, he'd be dangerous on the trial field. I'm trying to remember that his father Zac was the same way at this age, maybe even worse about it, and he's ended up okay. Time will tell. Spot and Devin are now 10 months old and i'm playing around with them a little here and there on sheep. No big hurry on them, they're going to be pretty sensible.
All is well at the farm. I've got the flock numbers back up to a reasonable number, with a few bred to lamb in March. It'll be fun to have lambs around again after not lambing at all last year. I've switched back over to mostly hair sheep after having a wool flock for a few years. It's kind of nice to look out and see some color out in the pasture again, with a few reds and some dorper crosses as well. I like having a few of the wool sheep and some hair sheep as well, good for mixing and matching for training.
There are a couple of events coming up at the farm. First, i have Tommy Wilson lined up for a clinic February 2-3. Then at the end of March, we're having a "Rhyme puppy" get together. Kim is coming in from MI to visit with Rhyme, and I've invited pups and owners from all 3 of her litters to come out to the farm. That should be fun and i plan to get lots of pictures of the Bill and Zac pups.
So that's the latest goings on around here. Trial season is in a lull right now so not much to report there. That will change in the late spring as we start ramping up for summer travel and work our way towards the Finals in VA in October. I'm hoping for one or perhaps even two trips out west this summer so hopefully blog posting will be more interesting as we start leaning in that direction!
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