I've been lucky enough to be absorbed by a sheepdog trial and training clinic for 4 of the last 5 days, so forgive me if all I post are some photos of the awesome skies and light we've had this past week. (Quick update on the trial: Maggie ran in ProNovice in the Cedar Stone Farm trial last week. I was very pleased with her first run--no high placements, but we accomplished my goal for the day. She sped up and moved the sheep much faster and we finally (!) finished the drive. She is so cautious that she goes too slowly and we have been running out of time on the course. Our run was as messy as a Sloppy Joe, but damn if she didn't respond to what we'd been working on and move the sheep more freely. Yay. The next run was not so pretty, because it wasn't a run at all. We got letters Read More
Archives for 2017
Name That Ewe 6-12-17
There are six new members of Redstart Farm: Two momma ewes and their twin lambs. It's such a joy to have lambs back on the farm--we had to skip lambing season this year because of a bacterial disease that prevented our co-owned ram from coming over in fall and breeding the ewes. But now we have two new ewes from him (Little Big Man), thanks to friend and co-owner Donna, who sold us two of her older ewes and the lambs a few weeks ago. All are settling in well, but I need some help. All the ewes at Redstart have names, but I'm struggling with a name for the ewe in the photos below. Right now I call her "scraggly ewe," for obvious reasons, but that doesn't have much of a ring to it. So I'm reaching out to my village for ideas. All ideas are welcome. Here's what you need to know: Read More
What Would You Like to Talk About?
I'm back in the office, refreshed and recharged and ready to go. And curious--what would YOU like to talk about? Canine-related book reviews? Other book reviews? (Have you read Leaving Time? Wow!) Case studies? Research? Training Ideas? Dog-Human relationships? Flowers? Recipes? Novels about dogs that incorporate flowers? I'm all ears. Be as specific as you can, because that makes it easier for me to know where you'd like our conversations to go. One note: I won't be posting as often as I have before. The conversations we have in the blog are special to me--illuminating, inspiring, and amusing, often all at the same time. I've cherished this forum, and I still do. But I promised Jim that I would take it a bit easier for awhile, and I am planning on honoring that. And I promised the Read More
Contemplative Photography, 2017 Version
I won't pretend that being restricted by my bad knee hasn't put a damper on my activities. Thank heavens then, for the class I took several years ago on Contemplative Photography (see some photos from it here and here). It did so much to help expand my eye and how much I appreciate the visual world. Since I have to save my energy for working Maggie, gardening and exercising the dogs, Jim and I went for a drive instead of a walk, and found some wonderfully rich scenes to feed my soul. These next shots are from an old barn we drove by. There is no house on the property, just an old barn and a much newer one, full of young Holsteins. I could have spent an hour taking photos just inside the abandoned barn. I love the juxtaposition of the old barn and the shiny new tractor in the Read More
Canine Social Cognition – What Do We Know?
In March I wrote a review of James Serpell's 2nd edition of The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behavior and Interactions with People. In the review I said "This chapter [on social cognition] is the ultimate updated resource on social cognition in dogs, and is practically worth the price of the book." I've been reading through the chapter, and have decided it IS worth the price of the book, all by itself. That is, at least, if you find understanding a dog's mind as interesting as how to influence his or her behavior. (Is there an emoji for "dog brain geek?") "Social Cognition and emotions underlying dog behavior," written by Friederike Range and Zsófia Virányi is chock full of information. It raises as many questions as it provides answers, but that's exactly what it ought to do given Read More
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