October 15, 2009: Tina's First Day at School
Yes, yes, we have been completely negligent bloggers of late. OK, here's the abridged catch-up. The garden is still being pruned. The chainsaw has come in handy - just the mess to clean up now.

Kelvin has made new gates around the cottage. Angie scrubbed the deck free of moss and almost finished staining the deck. Ran out of stain. Darn! Still have that on the 'To Do' list. The old railway carriage has been stripped and will be wire brushed when the weather permits. We have hatched our plan for this...stay tuned.

We went to the first nursery trial for the season where Angie clerked for the judge, and this week Angie judged a nursery trial in Ceredigion. Nigel Watkin's Jody looks hot! Darn, wish we had bought Jody when we had the chance. If Angie had to vote on 'the dog the judge most wanted to take home' from the Ceredigion trial, it would have been Rona Davies' Dell. Sharp bitch! Very sharp!

We had family visiting over the weekend (via Germany and New Zealand), which was fun...oh, and the extra pairs of hands to do 'stuff' was welcomed! Lots of Baileys and German beer were consumed....more to recover from an aborted attempt of driving the truck and 'wheelbarrow' to the top hayfield to clear up the mess from a downed tree. The track was too slippery for the truck so Angie, yes Angie!, backed the trailer down the hill. Scary stuff! Everyone survived her trailer backing exploits and, amazingly, her cooking.

Angie raced off to Scotland this week for a day of training with Bobby (Dalziel). Time to put the young ones through their paces and decide which ones to keep and which ones might be finding a new best pal (oh that hurts to say that coz we can't bare to let any go!). It was amazing seeing the young dogs working with Bobby. He can so quickly communicate to a young dog what he likes and what he doesn't. Cian found that out when he decided to grab some wool. He only did it once! Cian's holiday in Scotland didn't happen when Angie had to race back to Wales and didn't have time to drop him at his holiday camp. Bobby's Joe made the trip back with us and will be here for two weeks. We love Joe! He is so cool and happy and amazingly, when we call his name, he comes running as if he is one of our dogs. Hmmm, come to think of it, he comes faster than our dogs. Bobby has him well trained! The colours up in the Ettrick Valley at the moment are incredible.

Right, now the latest news. Tina had her first taste of 'school' today. She went to the school assembly and surprised everyone by magically appearing out of a treasure chest. Kelvin had practiced this at home first. He would put her in the treasure chest, pick the chest up and place it in the middle of a field with sheep, and then open the chest. Tina would bounce out as soon as the lid was opened and be delighted to see the sheep. Tina would go back in the chest, moved to another field and repeat the process. At the school assembly, she bounced out of the chest in eager anticipation of seeing sheep, and instead she was greeted by 250 children. Sheep, children - it made no difference to Tina. She was just as happy to see the kids as she is to see sheep.

The children saw a video of Tina working sheep, and then lesson time. You might ask why Tina went to the school assembly. Well, Kelvin was teaching a lesson relating to good behaviour - mainly stopping, listening, and looking at the teacher. Tina, with her nice prick ears and her watching Kelvin's every move, was a super example for the kids. Many kids got the message! She was the star of the show! The kids were also given a lesson in approaching strange dogs -or rather, NOT approaching strange dogs. They were not allowed to pat Tina but, of course, the staff members did! Tina was on her best behaviour EXCEPT when she was in her kennel and she could hear Kelvin during the physical education class. She wanted to join in!

Tina

Weather here has been fantastic. The older dogs are having time off while the younger dogs are just getting started. We have been out for lots of walks around the property and the dogs have been 'helping' us start building a few wee walking trails up the right side of the property. A good fall and winter task (one of many!)!