Mean Skid

Question: What's wrong with this face?Answer: Nothing
and yet Skid hates him with the fire of a thousand red hot suns. Duke is here for training but wasn't liking the kennels so we moved him to a dog house right outside our front door. Skid can't stand it and spends his days going from window to window to growl at Duke. Duke has no malice towards anyone. He's not even a year old, yet Skid feels that he must keep a very close eye on him. Whenever he's let outside his first move is to the fence by Duke's house to tell him what he thinks of him.Don't worry about Duke though. He's not taking Skid's insults seriously.He's just as perplexed as I am by Skid's behavior.

Minimal Monday

You may have noticed that on some blogs they do a "Wordless Wednesday" where they just post a photo that speaks for it's self. I thought that would be a good idea for me to try and do every week.

Our sheep look for grass on the snowy prairie

There is beauty in the changes on the Alberta prairie and there are so many sights I see across North America in our travels that I thought it would rewarding to try and capture some still shots. Sometimes I haven't posted a picture because it doesn't have a story and this way I'll have a reason to put it on the blog.

Megan working in the early evening

Plus I really want a better camera (time to take the plunge to an SLR) and I need to prove to Scott that I am ready. Of course, anyone who knows me, knows there is no way I can go "wordless" (hush up, Dad!) especially since I'll want to tell you something about the picture.

Our barn in a winter sunset

So I figured, I'd go with a "Minimal Monday"

GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE!

My Buddy

I must confess that the lambing work this year is not all being done by me. My four year old dog, Hemp, is taking most of the work on his shoulders.In addition to his 3 mile runs and his daily training sessions to get ready to trial again in the spring, he also has to help me with the lambs 4 times a day.
It keeps him pretty busy - and pretty dirty in our snow melting into mud.Hemp doesn't like all the sheep.
He really hates this grumpy ewe. She's always stomping her feet at him and threatening to hit him with her head,
and he's not so keen on lambs. They don't behave as they should.But day and night, without complaint, Hemp does his job and I couldn't get by without him.Good Boy, Hemp.

Momma's Milk

I've had a few questions about how the kitchen lamb is doing.
Very well actually and very oddly.
With all the beautiful weather we've been having, we moved her outside to the lambing pasture. Although she still comes running when I bring her the bottle at meal times, she would much rather hang out with her lamb friends and pretend to eat hay.I've never had a bottle fed who adjusted so well.
She has even met up with her twin although you would never know they were sisters based on their sizes.It certainly is a testament to the benefits of mother's milk.
After a hard day of eating, there is nothing left to do but find a comfy place to sleepcontent with the knowledge that a good shepherd is on duty.

Done!

Maid beat her due date by only one day this time. Mom and babies are doing well. Final count: 7 - uh oh, that means we are one teat short!

Baby Mama

Maid is due to have puppies this Monday.
A few years ago we bred her and she beat her due date by 3 days. It was a little bit of a surprise and she whelped the first one in her crate. This time I am going to get the jump on her.
I moved her into her whelping box tonight. I am sorry for the bad quality of the photos. Like a few of our other dogs, Maid firmly believes that if you take her picture you will steal her soul.Scott has helpfully shrunk the whelping box down to half it's usual size. It was too big before and the newborn blind pups often would get lost in it.
Several people have asked me if I thought she was getting big - I'd say so. Fortunately, she won't be too lonely in her new digs, Poe said he'd spend the night with her while she gets used to her home.

No Lambing- Ha Ha Sure...

So as I explained before, because we had no hay crop this year due to the drought, we sold our ram, kept only ewes and weathers (castrated boys) and decided not to lamb until next year.I thought I'd miss it but really, having no lambs has been kinda nice.No late night trips to the barn.No early morning, before sunrise, tromps to the barn through the snow.Mmhmmm, Togo, remind me to teach Scott (who castrates the lambs) how to count to two.

Home Sweet Home

The customer dogs that stay here spend their time going from kennels outside to their crates in our basement to sleep at night. Our own dogs in training have a different routine. They have free play time a few times a day but they sleep outside in barrels stuffed with straw. The youngsters have no problem with their homes but Scott decided to build them something a little fancier - their own dog houses! They are not painted yet but the dogs don't care, they find them very useful:

For example, if you need to see over the fence, you can sit on topand if you get sleepy you can use the head rest and the most useful, if you are not sure if it's your name that they are yelling to stop the barking, you can look at the name plate.