May the 21st

Finally got around to starting the Border Pups, Yindi and Kimba.

We took them to Northam to Neil Kristiansons place on Sun the 18th of May. I wanted his opinion and assistance as I have never started a border pup before, only kelpies. I also wanted my daughter Sam to have an input with her pup and Neil is a better teacher than me.

The pups are six months old now and have been rounding up the chooks so I guessed they were ready.

My pup Kimba was slow to start, taking a couple of sessions before her instinct kicked in. Then there was a bit of splitting and nipping going on as she gained some confidence, but got a bit excited. By the third session she was working better and balancing up quite well, keeping a fair distance from the sheep.

Sam's pup Yindi got her hackles up and barked for a while, then decided biting was fun so a fair bit of that went on, before she settled and started to think a bit. After three sessions she still as not balancing up really well, chossing to stare a bit and hold the sheep on the fence.

However I worked her yesterday at home and today and she started to get the idea so today Sam worked her by herself and she went very well, in fact worked better for Sam than for me, which made her happy. I am quite pleased with both of them.

While at Neil's I saw a couple of other dogs that caught my eye.

One was Jenny Palm's (my friend from Mukinbudin) She had a little kelpie by Neils old dog KB out of a full sister to my Lara. Named Posh, she was lovely, very young, 3 months but very game. 

The other was Neils, by the powerhouse Jock out of an eastern states bitch. A pure black she was very nice too, only 6 months and working well. 

I have not been doing much dog training lately apart from the pups . Rio is ready to take a bit more pressure and Angel and Caleb need to get their sides on and a good stop going. Sometimes I lose motivation, but the trip to Neil's has fired me up again so I must get  training again.

Rio's male pup went to a farm next door. I will keep the female. We have named her Mango as she is so sweet and round, but looks like being a fair size. She just loves everything and everybody, and is such an adorable little girl.

On the farm we are having a fantstic season, with so much grass the sheep cannot keep on top of it. A blessing for us but not so good in other areas I know.  It has been unseasonably warm though and we are still getting a bit of flystrike, unusual for this time of year.

A storm coming tomorrow I believe, so the end of warm weather for a while. So tomorrow is soup

day, where I make a huge pot of chicken and vege soup, and freeze enough to last for ages. 

Which means I dont have to cook every day, more time for dog training,  I hope.