Anyone looking for a sheep dog?

Last weekend the Boss Lady took me and my foster brothers to a sheep farm for herdin' lessons! Well, Dublin and Limerick were there for lessons, the Boss Lady just brought me along to see if I had any interest in sheep - and boy, did I ever! I loved it and I even heard the Boss Lady mumble somethin' about me bein' better on sheep my first time out than Dub and Lim were after tons of lessons! Here I am goin' out to the sheep with the Trainer Man: The Boss Lady said I was really good for my first time out - especially since I am still a puppy - because I didn't run at the sheep and scatter them like most young dogs will. I slowed down as a I approached them and swung out and around to find the perfect spot to balance and then..... ...I would lie down and wait to help take some of the pressure off of the sheep. Sometimes I would get "sticky" and wanted to keep the sheep in one spot...I figured if the sheep didn't move, then I wouldn't have to go run them down. Made sense to me, but the Trainer Man seemed to want me to move them around some so I started runnin' around the sheep in whatever direction he seemed to want me to go. It was really easy!

Here's a video of me being sticky:


Here's a video of me runnin' around the sheep - you can't tell all that well from the video, but I was workin' off of the Trainer Man's body language:


The Trainer Man said I had "good instincts" and I did really well for a young'un! I don't know what all the fuss was about, I just did what came naturally to me... Here I am waiting for another turn on sheep.

Sorry it took me so long to update the blog - I needed the Boss Lady's help uploadin' the videos...those opposable thumbs come in handy sometimes!


In other news, I am doin' really well with the kittens. I have been allowed to hang out for a few hours every night and I don't even care that they've been runnin' around. The Boss Lady says I am finally 'gettin' my head on straight'.


Breckin, Sheepdog Extraordinaire

kittenz

So the Boss Lady says I've made a lot of "progress". Not sure exactly what "progress" is, but she seemed happy with me when she said it, so I am gonna assume that it is a good thing.

We've been playin' the clicker game every mornin' and evenin' and I think I have it down pat. So far I've learned how to sit at the Boss Lady's side, down, and we are still workin' on walkin' and the newest one "Leave It". The Boss Lady was especially proud of me when I did a "Leave It" when the kittenz came running through our training session. I got extra treats for that!

Speaking of kitties, I've been getting much better about not obsessin' over them anymore. I can even be loose in the house with them runnin' around. Still, I would probably do best with older cats that don't want to run all the time as I will try and chase the kitties when they run - but I am gettin' much better at that, too!

In other news, the kitties went to the vet this week to get "fixed". I didn't even know they were broken! (And I swear to you, dear readers, that I didn't break them!) They came back and Darwin seemed just fine, so I don't know what he had fixed. He was running around just like usual so it couldn't have been too bad.

Whatever Fossil had to get fixed must have been more involved though, because she came home wearin' one of these:


She was N.O.T. P.L.E.A.S.E.D.

She kept bangin' into things and was generally not in a good mood for the 4 days she had to wear it. I stayed far out of her way!

~Breckin the not-so-brave

Piece of Cake!

Well, I had my first class on Monday night and it was easy-peasy. I was the best in the class! I even got used as a demo dog a few times! And I got praised bunches of times for my tuggin' skills - I like playing tug with the Boss Lady.

There are 5 other dogs in the class. One was a tiny little dog with a big bark. He kept barking the whole time. The Boss Lady said she was very proud of me because I didn't bark at all - even when she had to leave me in the training room while she helped one of the other students out. I just chilled and watched the other students and dogs acting silly. I'm pretty good at people watchin'.

We worked on "sit" - I already have that down. Same with "wait" before we come out of our crates. Then we worked on "By Me" which I am pretty good at. We did some walking in heel position - I can do that, but it isn't my favorite thing - I'd much rather run and play. And then we worked on tuggin' - that was my favorite part of the class!

I can't wait to go back next week!

Guess what happens tomorrow?

Hiya! Guess what? School starts tomorrow! I'm so excited, I finally get to go to my own dog class, just like my foster brothers do. I hope I do well....the Boss lady has been practicin' with me. She clicks this clicker thing and then I get a treat. I can't always make her click the clicker thing though...I am not sure, but I think it has somethin' to do with what I am doin' at the time I get the click.

The Boss Lady says I concentrate so hard on trainin' that she can almost see smoke coming outta my ears!...uh, that's a good thing, right?

Breckin the Brave

Big News!!!

Hiya! I have some excitin' news to share....I met a bunch of men with beards this weekend and I wasn't scared at all! Turns out, men with beards are just as good at givin' treats and scritches as everyone else! Who knew?


We had a very excitin' day this weekend. We went to Sugar Bush Farm and met a bunch of other dogs and kind people. They had lots of treats and they all wanted to give me pets and chest rubs. I was in heaven. I even got to play with other dogs and the Boss Lady said I did "great"!

I got to practice all my dog herdin' moves - though mostly I just lie down and watch them while pretendin' I am a great sheep dog of old...(it keeps me outta trouble that way).
I've got style, if I do say so myself!

Catch ya later,
Breckin

Zoomies!

So, after a few weeks hangin' with the Boss Lady and her crew, Limerick and I finally reached some sort of understandin': I must never, ever, EVER touch his coveted, torn-in-half-and-hanging-together-by-a-thread, barely-able-to-fly, green frisbee and he will deign to acknowledge my existence every once in a while. We even went so far as to play a game of wresting/bitey-face/zoomies yesterday! It was fun! And Dublin was okay with it, too, even though he didn't play with us. I know he was okay with it because he carried on doing his own thing while we were wrestlin'. Normally, if he thinks we are fightin', Dublin breaks it up 'cause he doesn't like such shenanigans. He's a good big brother to Limerick (and honestly, sometimes I think Dublin is the only reason Limerick is still alive - sometimes Lim has less dog sense than me!)




After running around and playing outside for a few hours, the Boss Lady brought us inside and decided to drown me. I dunno why. She called it "taking a bath" and said I had to have one because I rolled on something really "vile" smellin' but I'm pretty sure she was tryin' to kill me. I stayed very still and she attacked me with water and soap but eventually she got tired of it and let me get back out of the tub. The only casualty of the attempted drownin' was my beautiful smell; now I smell just awful and "minty fresh". Humans sure do like disgustin' smells! I much prefer my previous odor of dead squirrel. Limerick and Dublin agreed with me, but they were laying low and just happy that they didn't have to get a bath.

Freckles!

Hiya! I'm Breckin and I am the Boss Lady's new foster dog. I'm what ya call a rough-coated, tri-colored border collie with lots of FRECKLES! Matter of fact, my name even means freckled!

Anyway, I've been doin' a lot of learnin' these last few weeks. First, I had to learn to play nice with other dogs - I was used to being a bit of a punk because that's what worked in my old pack, but my new foster brothers (Dublin and Limerick) said that kind of stuff wasn't gonna fly here. Limerick informed me that HE was the only punk allowed at the Boss Lady's place.

Then I had to learn that everythin' doesn't belong to me, includin' the Boss Lady. That kinda went along with not being a punk. So I've got that figured out now and I only grumble if another dog (aka Limerick) tries to take my food right out of my mouth. Other than that I don't mind if they are near me when I am eatin'.

I also got "new-turred" though I don't remember it so I am not sure what exactly it was. The Boss Lady said it sure helped me to learn how not to be a punk though, so I guess it is a good thing....

I'm still workin' on learnin' some new skills, like how to walk well on a leash and how to not eat the the Boss Lady's cats.

Okay, gotta go

Breckin