Lambs. Flowers. Working Dog Conference. Oh My.
Ever wanted to be two places at once? I left Thursday for the Penn Vet Working Dog Conference in Philly and wanted to stay home. (Lambs. Flowers…) I spoke Friday to introduce the conference (speaking about resilience, blog on that to come in a few weeks), and wanted to stay all weekend. The line up of speakers was that inspiring. If I were you, I would seriously consider going next year, even if you don’t have a dog who is officially a “working dog.” Honestly, I promise, you’ll learn bunches. It’s an amazing conference.
I was terrible about getting photographs at the conference. But I did take a photo of the Dogwise table, who generously sponsored the dinner and offered discounts to all participants. (Dogwise made the offer, not the table. I really should edit the sentence, but an explanation feels easier…). On the right is a fuzzy photo of me and the woman many of us call The Real Wonder Woman, Dr. Cindy Otto, who created the Working Dog Center, and probably is able to fly through the air on demand. (I didn’t think to ask her, but I will next time.) My colleague Laura Monaco Torelli kindly sent me the photo of my Keynote address, which owed its final video (of 3 week old Border Collies being “evaluated” on adult sheep, holy crap!) to friend and colleagues Meg Boscov and Randy Brown who are far more techie than I.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Good thing I got home when I did. Lady Godiva (flock matriach, best breeding ewe and the closest I’ll ever have to a pet sheep in my life) had a hard time lambing. Our perfect sheep vet, Dr. Jeff Kunardt, came out and helped her along. Now we have two ewes with three lambs. Our teenage lamb had a strong single ram lamb (exactly what I want for a young adolescent) and Lady G had two gorgeous girls. Along with the spring flowers, finally not covered in snow, it’s heaven to be home.
Lady Baa Baa, by the way, appears ready to burst. But no lambs yet.
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About the Author
Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.
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Heavenly
I really like Dogwise. I find great books and they ship promptly and everything is well wrapped and I still get a great deal on your Family training book I use to train dogs. The deal for 10 plus books is unbeatable.
How sweet is the pic of the white lamb!
Beautiful Spring weather in Portland Or finally.
Lady baa baa looks like she’s going to put down triplets! 2rams and a ewe. 😆
trisha, you are one of the most photogenic (and funny) writers I know–Lady Baa Baa!
I’m now on blog with New Zealand horse people who are working with horses in the most knowledgeable ways. I’ll forward today’s.
Know anyone or any writing who has written on reading horses. I’m pretty good with dogs, but no where near that with horses.
with admiration, Honey Loring
Beautiful pics of the lambs and flowers, so peaceful looking.
I hope it’s not too late to enter a guess for Lady Baa Baa’s lambs. After consulting with Missy, my BC mix who is experienced at herding cuddly stuffed sheep around on a comfy bed, our guess is two ewes born on April 26. No inspiration so far as to names.
That white lamb has a sort of solemn expression! Are the newbies named yet?
Sounds like a wonderful conference. Can we see the video of the three week old BCs and the sheep?
Mason, that’s a great idea to get the movie on the blog. I’ll work to make that happen, not adept yet at movies on the blog but it’s on my To Do list for sure. Good motivation! (And I think I mis-spoke, puppies were 4 weeks, not three.
I’d love to see the 4 week old pup “evaluation” video too.
I had never heard of the Working Dog Center; thanks for introducing it. While poking around on the website, I found some very clear and detailed videos by Dr. Otto on fitness exercises. Among other things, I learned that Habi and I were doing ‘sit-to-stand’ exercises incorrectly. So double thanks! (Habi says the correct way is MUCH harder! I remind her that’s why we’re using Super Good treats now).
Glad you got home in time to deal with Lady Godiva’s lambing. Everyone looks healthy! Hope Lady Baa-Baa has lambed by now. It looks like she’s down to “lamb or pop!”
For Honey Loring: Two very insightful horse blogs are by Anna Blake (https://annablakeblog.com/) and Terry Golson (https://cooperativehorse.com/).